For about three months Belarus' leasing industry has been operating in the new legal conditions specified by Belarus president decree No. 99 on leasing business regulation. In line with the decree the National Bank is in charge of regulating leasing business in the country. Working together with interested organizations and government agencies, the National Bank has prepared a package of legal acts to determine leasing operation procedures. Representatives of the leasing industry summed up the first results of working in accordance with the new rules in an interview with BelTA.
In January-September 2014 the volume of new leasing by the lessors that belong to the Association of Leasing Companies of Belarus totaled Br7.7 billion, 40% up from the same period of last year, noted Director of the Association Sergei Shimanovich. “The figure confirms that favorable framework conditions for the operation of leasing companies have been created in Belarus. The National Bank vigorously cooperates with the Association in all areas — the development of regulations, the arranging of joint training events and presentations, the monitoring of the market state,” he stressed.
According to the Association of Leasing Companies, representatives of small and medium businesses constitute 75% of the lessees in the country. Belarusian leasing companies expect that the number of natural persons among their clients will rise soon. Director of OOO Aktivlizing Viktor Kobyak said he hopes that after the Tax Code is amended and a separate document to regulate housing leasing is adopted, this part of the market will get real opportunities for development and growth.
Director of SOOO VTB Leasing Nadezhda Zhurok said she was convinced that in the new conditions the share of natural persons in leasing operations will increase among other things. “New participants and resources will appear as the understanding that it is possible to work on this market, that the rules are here to say, that the legal base meets the needs grows stronger. The development of the automobile leasing market is an example. Several years ago it was rather small and its financial resources were limited. Today it is dozens of times larger. As leasing operations with natural persons develop, I expect the emergence of additional resources and the arrival of new investors. The same can be said about the housing leasing market,” said the expert.
The National Bank is now busy developing a draft legal act that will address housing leasing matters to rule out the need to amend existing documents. “If the market takes shape and grows in accordance with the clearly stipulated rules, if it is transparent and stable, then long-term capital will emerge some time later. It will allow leasing companies to sign housing leasing contracts for periods up to 10-20 years. The financial burden of housing leasing contracts will be comparable to that of mortgage contracts. Once it happens, we will be able to talk about the real affordability of the instrument,” said Director General of SOOO Raiffeisen Leasing Maxim Lisitsky.
Representatives of the Belarusian leasing business community stated that the work performed by the National Bank as the leasing industry regulator in tight cooperation with the Association of Leasing Companies of Belarus had contributed to the creation of a favorable environment for leasing operations and after the legal base and the organizational base have completed their transformation, the industry will get a new development impulse.
Written by belta.by
