The Franco-Japanese automobile manufacturing alliance Renault-Nissan and the Italian banking group UniCredit are close to signing a joint agreement on creating an auto loan bank. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the new lending institution plans to commence its operations in 2013.

The joint venture will be established on the basis of the “granddaughter” of UniCredit Group and the daughter of UniCredit Bank, a small bank in the city of Omsk called Siberia.