Romanian leasing market down 14% last year

TheRomanian leasing market reached EUR 1.12 billion of financed assets in 2010, a drop of 14 percent on 2009, triggered by the fall of all business segments, said Bas Hoekstra, president of the Association of Financial Companies in Romania- ALB. On the car finance segment, the market dropped by 12 percent, to EUR 712 million, while on the equipments segment, the decline was of 7 percent, to EUR 238 million. However, leasing companies have seen a steeper decline on the real estate segment: down 26 percent, to EUR 171 million, added Hoekstra. Around 21 percent of the new financing went to equipments, while 16 percent to real estate and 63 percent to the car segment. In 2009, the leasing market stood at EUR 1.3 billion, down 74 percent compared to 2008. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com