BMW 2004 Annual Report Download - page 18

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17
Overall, the total number of new financing con-
tracts with retail customers in 2004 rose worldwide
to euro 20,759 million, a 19.1% increase over the
previous year.
The number of retail customer contracts under
management was increased in all regions and stood
at 1,675,772 contracts at the end of 2004, 13.7%
more than one year earlier. The contract portfolio in-
creased in Germany, the rest of Europe,the Americas
and Asia by 13.8 %, 14.1%, 14.4% and 10.9% re-
spectively.
101,222 contracts relating to the financing of
vehicles of other manufacturers were in place
with retail customers at 31 December 2004, an
increase of 9.4% compared to the end of the pre-
vious year.
Further growth for dealer financing business
The number of dealer financing contracts in place
at the end of 2004 stood at 167,627, 12.4% more
than one year earlier. Overall, the Financial Services
segment provides services to 2,583 dealers. The
total average volume of dealer financing contracts in
2004 rose by 19.8 % to euro 5,305 million. BMW
Financial Services has thus been able to strengthen
its position as the leading financial partner for the
BMW Group’s dealer organisation.
Sharp rise in the volume of deposits
Deposit business continued to grow strongly in
2004. The average deposit volume for 2004 was
euro 4,626 million which was 22.1% higher than
the average achieved in the previous year. The main
contributing factors behind this positive develop-
ment were the attractive terms and conditions of-
fered for online call deposits and savings accounts
in Germany. The total number of customer accounts
rose worldwide by 47.2% during the year to stand
at 374,279 accounts at 31 December 2004.
Fund business also progressed well and gener-
ated high net cash flows. In particular, the combined
product “Save& Invest” generated a solid increase in
net cash flows.There were19,791customer securities
accounts at 31December 2004 (+43.1%). Net cash
flows for all investment funds amounted to euro
42.2 million, 33.9% more than in the previous year.
The number of BMW credit card customers in
2004 increased by 7.1% to 285,930. Following
the introduction of the BMW credit card programme
in Australia, Spain and Thailand, the BMW Card can
now be obtained in eight countries.
Related insurance products
At present, the Financial Services segment offers
insurance products such as car and credit insurance
in 24 markets. These policies are normally entered
into in parallel to credit and lease contracts. BMW
Financial Services acts as agent, working closely
with local and international insurance companies. In
2004, 383,939 insurance contracts were in place,
14.9% more than in the previous year.
Fleet business with growth trend
The BMW Group provides fleet services via its
Alphabet subsidiary which operates in twelve Euro-
pean markets and in Australia. Business was further
expanded in 2004. At the year-end, the contract port-
folio covered 99,046 units giving a growth rate of
28.9% comparedto the previous year.The average
growth rate for new business over the last five years
has been 33.2%, so that Alphabet is now one of the
fastest growing full-service providers in this market
segment.
Evenly-balanced risk situation
Credit risk was again reduced in 2004. The ratio for
bad debts in 2004, at 0.41%, fell by 5 base points
compared to the previous year. The main contributing