Fernando Casero Alonso (Oviedo, 1957) has been president of the National Association of Financial Credit Establishments (Asnef) for six years. the employers’ association that brings together regulated financial entities specialized in consumer finance in Spain. A graduate in Economics and Business Sciences from the Universidad Comercial de Deusto, in Bilbao, he has a diploma in the General Management Plan from IESE and has been a member of the Official Registry of Auditors of Accounts (ROAC), since he took office, has had as one of its mantras that a credit activity reserve be established, so that only regulated entities can grant it. In the draft of the European Credit Directive, in which Brussels is currently working, this figure is included, something that Asnef celebrates. However, homemade insists on the need for Spain to regulate this aspect as soon as possible, even before the approval of the European directive, so that an efficient and transparent regulatory framework is structured, which guarantees the rights of consumers. “We have been demanding for many years that all entities that lend money have an activity reserve. What cannot be is that only 95 of the 667 fintech operating in Spain are supervised and regulated by an official body, either the Bank of Spain, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) or the General Directorate of Insurance. It is very important that the consumer is protected. We believe that there is a sensitivity on the part of the regulators in this sense, and we hope to achieve it. Simply, we want the rules of the game to be the same for everyone. The fact of being regulated entities means that we have very high costs. That other entities do not have to meet the same requirements also harms us in terms of reputation and competitiveness », he says.
Despite economic uncertainties derived from the War in Ukraine, the increase in inflation and in a context of rising interest rates, Casero regarding the evolution of consumer credit is “moderately optimistic” until the endin of the first quarter of 2022. And it is that in 2021, its volume grew by 13.7% to 23,651 million euros, totaling 8 million contracts. These data are very relevant, especially if you take into account that the financing for the car is not included in these figures. Accounting for this segment, the volume of financing would amount to 50,000 million. “In this exercise, it’s time to be cautious due to economic uncertainties, although the figures for the first quarter are positive if we take into account that in this period the growth in relation to the previous year was 24.1% to 6,334 million euros and 1.9 million contracts (2.6% more than the previous year). We also have to be cautious, since, despite these data, the war in Ukraine, the rise in interest rates and inflation can predictably change the outlook in the medium term, so we will have to be attentive to this transfer to the economic environment and monetary policy to our sector”, he assures.
Likewise, these figures occur in a context of stable delinquency for the financial sector as a whole (banks and savings banks), although for specialists in consumer credit, such as financial credit establishments, the data published by the Bank of Spain shows a rise in May to 7.14% (7.12% in April). And it is that, according to Casero, «the measures and moratoriums that have been given by the Government and the entities of the sector have preserved the payment capacity of households and companies and, although it is not an alarming fact, it seems foreseeable that there will be a contraction of consumer credit in the third quarter and a possible increase in non-performing loans”, highlights.
Regarding interest rate increases, Casero does not believe that reasonable increases introduce significant distortions into the system. “A rate hike has a direct impact on our margins, as they tighten. But consumers will also notice it, insofar as their ability to save decreases and, therefore, they have fewer possibilities to consume. However, the truth is that we have gone through an anomalous period, in which rates have been at zero and even negative for a very long time, something very strange in a rational economy. The rise in rates has been more abrupt given the imperative need to return to more contained and controllable inflation rates, so we will see the impact of this and subsequent rate hikes that will be decided in the coming months and that we hope will not prevent the growth of the economy»underlines.
Revolving
Likewise, applauds the latest ruling of the Supreme Court on revolving cards of May 4, 2022 which, he considers, gives the sector legal certainty by clarifying the criteria for determining whether the APR of one of these products is usurious or not. “This is a very important sentence because, Apart from legal certainty, it allows the consumer to have all the necessary information, and that they have decision-making capacity, and that they can freely buy a product because revolving is a necessary instrument, which exists throughout Europe and throughout the world. At Asnef, we have made a protocol that helps the consumer to make a decision, even before the Supreme Court ruling, which allows the user to assess the cost of the requested credit. In addition, it is very important for us that the courts do not set a maximum rate, but take into account the one that existed at that time », he concludes.