The consumer finance sector in Korea has over the past 12 months entered a period of stress. The economy has been hampered by global uncertainty and by corporate fraud. Non-performing loans are on the increase as Korean consumers find themselves overleveraged and their employment under threat. It doesn't make good reading for the credit card companies and the consumer credit industry as they seek ways to finance the burden. However, one company stands out.
Samsung Capital is the most experienced capital-raising consumer finance company in the country. In the past year it added to its tally of three international cross-border securitization deals with two more. And what is equally impressive and definitely seems to be working as a strategy is that the company continues to spread its business around, awarding mandates to banks that have specific skill sets for specific deals. For example, its first international public $296 million auto-loan asset-backed securitization in May 2002 was mandated to Merrill Lynch because of its US distribution and experience with such public bond offerings. Samsung followed this successful deal by mandating ING to launch a $200 million conduit deal: a structure very familiar to the Dutch bank.