Ionuț Morar, CEO of BT Leasing, in an interview with Piața Financiară about this year’s leasing activity within the Banca Transilvania Financial Group:

• In what the BT Group management calls a “challenging” year, 2023, the first-half results for the group you are part of are viewed as positive, with the accelerated pace of operational growth maintained. Does the same apply to BT Leasing? If so, what were the main drivers behind these results?

BT Leasing has seen an accelerated pace of operational growth this year, driven by the organic expansion of the business and the completion of the integration of Țiriac Leasing and Idea::Leasing, companies previously acquired by Banca Transilvania. As of January 2023, Țiriac Leasing became BT Leasing following the merger, and this summer our team grew with colleagues from Idea::Leasing. New leasing originations now run through a single company, BT Leasing.

The strategy of consolidating the leasing business into a single entity delivered outstanding results: in the first 6 months of this year total financing rose by 90% versus the same period last year, total assets exceeded 3.1 billion lei, and profit was approximately 100 million lei. Over 95% of our portfolio is financing for companies, and their appetite for investing in new cars and equipment has remained high despite macroeconomic uncertainties related to the war in Ukraine, higher energy prices and inflation.

• For BT Leasing, as for the BT Group as a whole, a priority right now is to offer financing products for electric cars and to support environmentally friendly investments that contribute to green energy generation (such as photovoltaic panels). What can you tell us about 2023 financial leasing through BTL in this area?

We are pleased to see growing interest in and adoption of ESG principles among Romanian entrepreneurs: 45% of the cars we financed this year were electric or hybrid. We want to support this trend with tailored leasing solutions and pricing campaigns, as we aim to make a meaningful contribution to the transition to a greener culture.

• Where does the company you lead stand today in its digitalisation journey and in promoting online financial leasing to clients, given that Idea::Leasing played a major role in this area?

Digitalisation is a continuous process in a company; you can’t say you’ve done it and it’s finished. New regulations appear, new products, new ways of interacting with clients. We have an online platform for managing leasing contracts (MyBTLeasing) that instantly provides all invoice details and information on leased assets, and clients can automatically generate themselves all the documents needed for dealings with various authorities (Customs, municipal authorities, insurers, the police, etc.), early repayment calculations, and all requests submitted via the app are prioritised by our team. To date, more than 100,000 such documents have been generated, with an adoption rate of over 75% among clients.

We are also working on a fully online car leasing product. It is a standardised, fast-track leasing product that lends itself to full automation. I believe more complex leasing products, tailored to clients’ needs, will continue to require human advice, even if the interaction with a BT Leasing staff member takes place via digital platforms.

• Traditionally, BTL has paid particular attention to equipment financing. How did this important line of business perform in 2023?

In the first half of the year, equipment financing posted solid growth because the economy is growing and our clients are expanding. Their needs are increasingly diverse and sophisticated, including in manufacturing. In terms of areas of interest, construction and infrastructure are key drivers for leasing financings thanks to the programmes and funds Romania is accessing for infrastructure.

• The NBR published Regulation No. 3 in 2023 on non-bank financial institutions, introducing tighter rules for NBFIs. At the same time, 2023 is the year non-bank financial institutions in Romania move to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). How do you assess the impact on NBFIs in general and on BTL in particular?

The Regulation, already in force for NBFIs, has amended several provisions related to how non-bank financial institutions operate, and we believe it will help strengthen a sound risk framework by introducing, for NBFIs as well, banking-type indicators—capital adequacy and liquidity—along with certain capital requirements and rules on how to calculate exposures.

For BT Leasing, neither the new regulation nor the move to IFRS as statutory accounting principles has had an impact, since we had already adopted them as part of the group and due to funding lines from major international financial institutions such as EBRD, IFC, FMO, etc., with which we have worked for many years.

• As we approach year-end, you have certainly set your business objectives for 2024 and the main projects BTL will be involved in. Briefly, what are they?

For 2024, BT Leasing’s priority is to consolidate the business amid heightened corporate interest in leasing, automate certain internal workflows, and continue the transfer of expertise and the strengthening of the team resulting from the acquisitions of the past two years.