How are banks' attitudes changing and what are banks doing to succeed? Using its survey of 279 branch managers, Datamonitor's Bank Attitudes to Consumer Credit in Western Europe report dissects these issues by analyzing bank attitudes across seven major markets in Western Europe.

• Sheds light on why some markets are highly developed, while others remain under penetrated
• Measures how important banks consider consumer credit to be
• Profiles best practice cases in the market
• Primary interviews with leading bank executives across Western Europe

With consumer credit gross outstanding at 18.3 per cent as a proportion of GDP and advances at 31.9 per cent, the UK is far more developed than other markets. Germany, the next most developed market in Europe, is surprisingly far behind; with outstandings as a proportion of GDP at 10.4 per cent in 2004. Italy and the Netherlands come last.

Survey data paints a picture of Belgian banks as less interested or more reluctant than other banks to offer consumer credit. Most dramatic is the provision of personal loans, whereby 25.2 per cent less of Belgian bank branches offer this product than the average of European branches.

Dutch banks are not involved in the sub-prime sector. In fact, 95.0 per cent of Dutch respondents stated that their bank does not have lending products for the sub-prime market, compared to 74.9 per cent of banks in Western Europe as a whole. Banks have traditionally been credit averse, but have also been wary of entering an unrepeatable market.

• Understand who the best performers of each market are and why they are at the top
• Plan your strategy knowing what other competitors think
• Understand the intricacies of each consumer credit market in Western Europe and how each can be tapped into