SKB-Bank was rated 16th among Russian factor companies in terms of transferred money last year. The rating was compiled by the Expert magazine; they believe the local factoring market doubled in 2006, reaching $11 billion, which is more impressive than in the case of its East European counterparts; moreover, provided the current growth rate remains the same, the market is expected to become comparable with the ones based in Western Europe. This success has so far remained unique to this country’s financial services markets. The Expert magazine says SKB-Bank’s factoring activity exceeded 1.131 billion RUR last year, with the shares of transactions involving small and medium-scale businesses being roughly the same.

'Despite being relatively uncommon in Russia, raising finance through factoring is already enjoying great demand. We are getting more and more applications daily, which means companies had it brought home to them just how advantageous this service is. I can’t think of any reason why factoring might become less popular any time soon,’ SKB-Bank’s Lending & Finance Director Tatiana Ushkova reports.