by Daniel Milroy-Maher

The Polish leasing industry is poised to take advantage of a strong economy and straitened bank lending and continue steady growth in 2013, according to Peter Kainradl, managing director of White Clarke Group Europe.

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While many eurozone economies have struggled over recent years, Poland has benefited from being in the European Union but outside the single currency zone, said Kainradl, receiving €67.3bn in EU structural funds since 2007, the highest amount of any member state.

Despite Poland’s domestic economic stability, many businesses have felt the effects of trade partners’ slowdown and bank lending has also stalled, which has particularly affected SMEs.

"This is where leasing becomes the prime, if not the only available source of funding," said Kainradl.

"Although the Polish economy is still defined as ’emerging’, the leasing market is well-established, relatively mature and highly competitive."

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In 2012 The Polish Leasing Association released figures that showed new business volume in all leasing sectors at a total of PLN31.2bn (€7.2bn), this represents a "flattening off" compared with the increases seen since 2009, but Kainradl said the industry predicts this rate will at least be maintained in 2013.

EU support for agriculture will continue to stimulate equipment leasing in this sector while housing initiatives may revive the construction sector which slumped following the boom ahead of the Euro 2012 football tournament held in Poland.

However, a "flat macroeconomic climate" and increasingly harsher bank lending conditions for the current year, will result in a bigger focus on pricing, Kainradl said.

"The emphasis for lessors should be on promoting flexible options, and on developing more innovative and efficient solutions to stimulate demand and interest in leasing," said Kainradl.

In the longer term, Kainradl also suggested there is "great potential" for lessors to diversify into consumer sectors such as personal car leasing and said the Polish government could help develop this potential by implementing changes to VAT.