2017, another year of strong growth: New financings of €20.6 billion and pre-tax income of €1,077 million

"In a context of strong business momentum on the part of the Alliance brands, RCI Bank and Services achieved remarkable performances. The strategy of RCI Bank and Services is part of Groupe Renault's strategic plan aimed at maintaining high profitability over the long term and thereby contributing to the success of the Alliance." Clotilde Delbos, Chairman of RCI Bank and Services.

"In 2017, RCI Bank and Services successfully supported the growth of the Alliance brands with a new record on sales performance, enabling the company to post strong results growth. This success was driven by the commitment of all employees. RCI Bank and Services also continued to invest in its strategy to develop new automobility services." Gianluca De Ficchy, Chief Executive Officer of RCI Bank and Services.

RCI Bank and Services achieves a new sales performance

RCI Bank and Services once again posted a year of strong growth in 2017, concluding with an overall penetration rate excluding EAC of 42.6%, up 1.6 points on 2016. Capitalizing on the substantial increase in Alliance sales and on its strong integration in the sales policies of each brand, RCI Bank and Services posted an unprecedented volume of new financing contracts for new vehicles, up 12.7% on 2016 (1,451,000 new contracts in 2017 compared with 1,288,000 in 2016). Growth in the used vehicle financing business was confirmed with nearly 320,000 contracts in 2017, for an increase of 15.7% on 2016. The total number of new financing contracts rose from 1,564,000 in 2016 to 1,771,000 in 2017, up 13.2%. New financing also reached a record level of €20.6 billion, up 14.9% on 2016. Services are now a key activity of the company and contribute to the loyalty to the Alliance brands. The volume of services sold in 2017 came out at 4.4 million contracts, up 27.5% on 2016. RCI Bank and Services thus sold 1.2 services for each vehicle registered by the Alliance in its perimeter.

RCI Bank and Services pursued the international roll-out of its business activities in 2017 to support the sales of the brands. The network credit business has now been fully implemented in Turkey, and the company launched its customer activity for the Nissan brand in Argentina in October 2017.

The RCI Colombia subsidiary created in 2016 was consolidated over the course of 2017 and posted an impressive performance in its first financial year with a penetration rate of 51.6%.

RCI Bank and Services continued to invest in the development of new mobility services in 2017. The company relaunched the start-up Karhoo, a mobility platform, acquired Yuso, an automated fleet management system for taxis, ride-hailing vehicles and delivery services, and Marcel, a ride-hailing booking platform in Ile-de-France.

The company announces strong growth in financial performance

As a result of the sales momentum in 2017, APA now total €39.6 billion, up 19.0% on 2016. Of this amount, €29.9 billion is directly linked to retail activity, having risen by 18.5 %. Net banking income came out at €1.63 billion, up 10.6% on 2016. The increase resulted from the combined 20.5% rise of the financing business and the services business year on year. Net banking income as a percentage of APA stands at 4.11% (compared with 4.41% in 2016). The decrease can be attributed in part to the reduced weight of the Americas region in assets owing to growth in Europe and to the increase of provisions on residual values risk in the UK.

The cost of risk came in at a historically low level of 0.11% of APA, compared with 0.31% in 2016, benefiting in particular from the improved economic environment and confirming a robust policy on acceptance and recovery. RCI Bank and Services demonstrated its ability to support the development of its business activities and invest in several projects while controlling its operating costs. At end-December 2017, operating costs represented 1.32% of APA, down 7 basis points on 2016. The operating ratio remained at a leading performance level (32.1% at end-December 2017).

Pre-tax income amounted to €1,077 million, an increase of 18.1% on the previous year and proof that RCI Bank and Services is fully capable of continuing its trajectory of lasting and profitable growth.

The Group continues to diversify its refinancing policy

RCI Bank and Services confirmed its ability to access varied financing sources. In 2017, the group issued the equivalent of €6 billion in public bonds and extended its debt maturity by making an eight-year issue for the first time. It made six euro-denominated issues, alternating fixed and variable coupons, together with an issue in Swiss francs and a pound sterling transaction. It also made several private issues for a total of €365 million.

In addition, the revolving period of the private securitization of car loans in the UK was extended for an extra year and its amount increased £200 million to £1.1 billion. The alternation of maturities, coupon types and issue formats is an integral part of the strategy on the diversification of financing sources led for several years by the group, and serves to reach the greatest number of investors.

Outside Europe, group entities in Brazil, South Korea, Morocco and Argentina, as well as Poland for the first time, also tapped their domestic bond markets.

Retail customer deposits increased €2.4 billion year on year. At December 31, 2017, collected deposits totaled €14.9 billion, or 34% of RCI Bank and Services assets, consistent with the company's objectives.

RCI Bank and Services – we serve automobility 3

RCI Bank and Services' vision is to facilitate mobility by developing services and innovating to better serve its customers. This vision ties in with Groupe Renault's aim to provide sustainable mobility for all, today and tomorrow.   Automobility is central to the strategic priorities of the company. Serving automobility is about bringing customers of the Alliance brands a personalized response to their automotive mobility needs, through financing solutions or mobility services in response to new usages.

The group has set three priority ambitions.

RCI Bank and Services will maintain its high level of performance so as to support the sales activities of the Alliance brands.

After making services a key activity for the company, RCI Bank and Services now aims to develop new services, particularly connected services, and implement them through all channels.

Lastly, RCI Bank and Services aims to position itself as a mobility operator for professional customers and contribute to the Alliance's mobility projects.

1 Overall penetration rate excluding companies accounted for under the equity method (Russia, Turkey and India).
2 Average performing assets (APA): average loans outstanding plus assets relating to operational leasing activities. For customers, APA corresponds to average performing assets at year-end. For the network, APA corresponds to daily average performing assets.
3 RCI Bank and Services – We serve Automobility is a registered trademark of RCI Banque S.A.