If you lease it, they will come

After Swedish SEB and Austrian companies Bawag PSK and Immoconsult entered the Polish leasing market, seven other foreign companies have announced plans to begin operations in Poland.

AKF Leasing, UTA Leasing and Sueddeutsche Leasing from Germany, Impuls Leasing from Austria, Greek EFG Eurobank, Diler PSA from France and American CSI Leasing are all preparing to take a slice of the Polish leasing pie.

BRE Leasing president Mirosław Groszek says that launching operations in Poland is neither easy nor cheap. "To be profitable in the second or third year of operation, one has to finance transactions worth zł.300-500 million annually," he says, adding that new players will increase competition on the market.

The foreigners' interest is the result of the dynamic growth of the leasing sector in Poland. According to the Polish Leasing Association (ZPL), the value of the leasing market amounted to zł.21.5 billion last year, reaching the highest level in its history. The 31-percent year-on-year increase was also record-breaking.

The industry credits the economic growth for the results. "SMEs are in good shape and it's with them that leasing is most popular," EFL Leasing's president, Andrzej Krzemiński, explains. The leasing industry is expected to grow by between 20-30 percent this year.