The minimum share capital requirement of 400,000 RON (100,000 euros) set in the new leasing law for companies operating in this field will not be a problem for companies active on the market, say officials from the Banking Leasing Association (ALB) and the Association of Leasing Companies of Romania (ASLR). These are the two entities representing the players on the domestic market.
"The share capital threshold of 100,000 euros does not seem difficult for companies to comply with, as they will also have 6 months to take care of this issue. I believe many of them will easily manage to do this by capitalising their profit," stated Cornel Coca Constantinescu, the chairman of the Association of Leasing Companies of Romania (ASLR).
This restriction will mainly affect those with an insignificant presence on the market, who will have to drop "leasing" as their secondary line of business, as stipulated in their establishment documents.
"The introduction of the 400,000 RON threshold for share capital will not cause major companies to disappear. What we will see the loss of is leasing as a second or third line of business for a very large number of companies that are less active on this market," says Adriana Ahciarliu, Bank Leasing Association general secretary. She says there are about 100 companies operating on this market at the moment.
The ASLR official says that 60 or 70 companies are currently covering about 85-90% of the local leasing market and they will have no problem complying with the new provision.
The most important changes in the new norms regulating leasing, are, the officials of the two associations feel, the clarification of some terms, such as operational leasing and residual value, as well as aspects pertaining to customer and leasing company protection.
"It is very important that the new regulations should prevent situations like the MTS Leasing affair, by introducing customer protection measures, such as how the beneficiary is reimbursed in the event of the leasing company going bankrupt," Ahciarliu explained.
On the other hand, the ASLR chairman pointed out that a negative aspect of the draft proposed by the National Bank of Romania was that the leasing companies would not have access to the capital market. This means they will not be able to issue bonds. marius.anton@zf.ro
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