BCR Leasing, the specialized company part of the group built around the largest bank in Romania by assets, ranked eighth by new funding in 2013 with about EUR56 million. BRD Sogelease, affiliated to the second largest bank in the country, ranked sixth, with EUR76 million.
UniCredit Leasing remained the leader of the leasing business, with an about EUR245 million contract portfolio, which translates into about 20% market share. UniCredit Tiriac Bank, which became the fourth largest in the country last year, should take over UniCredit Leasing Corporation from UniCredit Leasing Italy, according to the plan to consolidate management of local operations started last year. At that time, the bank became the majority owner of consumer finance company UniCredit Consumer Financing and then started reporting consolidated financial results.
Second in the ranking after UniCredit Leasing was Impulse Leasing, one of the most dynamic companies on the market, which is part of the Raiffeisen group, followed by Porsche Leasing, a company providing funding for some of the most important German car brands, whose business depends on the demand on the auto market. The two are far behind the market leader, looking at their market share, which stands at less than 9% (Impulse) and slightly above 7% (Porsche).
Next in the ranking are three companies affiliated to banks: Raiffeisen Leasing, which has consolidated its position despite the crisis, as the bank itself did, Volksbank Leasing, which unlike the bank of its group whose business is shrinking, remains very active, and BRD Sogelease. BRD Sogelease has recently had a change of chief executive and is looking for ways to boost its business.
Another so-called ‘captive’ company, RCI Leasing, which depends on the vehicle sales in the Renault group, came in seventh.
BCR Leasing ended last year on the eighth position by new funding volume, with a market share that barely reaches 5%, far lower than the ambitious 10% target the management had set. The company is 98.4% owned by BCR and is to conduct an almost 101 million lei (EUR22 million) increase to be able to stomach the bad debt loss.
Turkish-held Garanti (Motoractive) and Tiriac Leasing are the last of the top ten leasing companies, with a market share of about 4%. The rest of the companies up to 15th place include three bank affiliates – BT Leasing, Piraeus Leasing and Alpha Leasing, along with two companies connected to two very valuable vehicle brands, Mercedes and Volvo. (EUR1=RON4.5144)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)