Presentation of Pawnshop Market Research Outcomes
Ilia State University hosted the presentation of the pawnshop market research prepared by the Iliauni Business Review (IBR).
The research outcomes were presented by IBR Researcher George Mikanadze.
The research aimed to study the pawnshop service market of the bank sector, microfinance organizations and private agencies, operating in Georgia. More concretely, the research aimed to study the lowest monthly interest rate for gold; microfinance organizations and banks with the highest rate service of gold and comparative analysis of interest rates.
Six commercial banks, five microfinance organizations, 12 private pawnshops were studied under the research. The financial agencies having pawnshop service for a physical person took part in the research as well.
The IBR researchers visited the pawnshops to conduct the research. The researchers chose the research item with market value of 215USD (5 grams; 585 alloy) and indentified the pawnshop conditions accordingly.
The research results showed that “PrivatBank” rated the item the most expensively and auspiciously for customers (125 USD); “Kor Standard Bank" stated the value of the item with lowest price (100USD). Accordingly, “PrivatBank” had the highest interest rate for the service (4 %).
“Tbilmicrocredit”, “Crystal” and “Rico Credit” stated the value of the research item similarly (125USD). “Express” has offered the most profitable condition to consumers (89USD). Accordingly, “Crystal” and “Express” have the highest interest rate for the service (4%) and “Rico Credit” has the lowest interest rate for the same service (2.5%)
As for the private sector, the average rate index for one gram gold is 22.38 USD and average monthly interest rate is 7.8%.
According to the comparative analysis of the average indexes, the microfinance organizations priced one gram gold for 23.36 USD, the private pawnshops - 22.38 USD and the commercial banks - 22.23 USD.
Accordingly, the private pawnshops have the highest interest rate (average 7.08 %), microfinance organizations -3.40 %, and the commercial banks - 3.25 %.
The Iliauni Business Review (IBR) conducted the research from May 10 to May 20, 2012.