The first leasing company in Bulgaria plans to double its market share and customers in three years

　The leasing company Interlease announced that it changes its name to UBB Interlease as part of its cross-selling development plans with the third largest bank in Bulgaria – UBB. The news came in half a year after the Belgian financial group KBC Group acquired UBB, its subsidiaries and Interlease.

In the next 3 years UBB Interlease plans to triple its sales volumes and to double the number of its clients. The company says it will be targeting the No. 1 market leadership from No. 3 position, where it stands now with a market share of about 10%. Its long-term goal is to increase its market share to 20% by 2020. It held this market share in 2011 for the last time.

Rudolf Kypta, CEO of UBB Interlease, explained that the financial crisis has affected the decline in the company's business, but its position is still strong. According to him, the ambitious plans of the Belgian management will bring the company back to the top.

"Our goal is 20% of UBB Interlease's business to be the result of cross-selling with KBC Group companies in Bulgaria. We are working on changing the sales model from passive to active customer relationship management both in Sofia and in the countryside. The insurance business is very much connected with our business and therefore we aim to increase our interaction with DZI, which is also part of the KBC Group family. We aim for 50% of penetration rate of DZI in the insured lease portfolio in the future, maintaining our relationship with our other partners at the same time", Mr. Kypta explained.

The strategic focus of UBB Interlease will be business customers, which up to now account for about 60% of the company's portfolio. Behind these plans is the fact that UBB is second in the business segment of the banking sector in Bulgaria.

For UBB Interlease:

UBB Interlease is the first Bulgarian leasing company, founded under the name Interlease in 1995, by the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), Leasehold (Swiss Investment Company) and International Finance Corporation, IFC (part of the World Bank Group). In 1997 the National Bank of Greece acquired majority ownership in Interlease and became the sole owner of the company in 2006. In June 2017 it was acquired by the Belgian financial group KBC Group. Interlease, together with the other companies in the group - UBB, CIBANK, DZI, UBB Asset Management, UBB Factoring and UBB Insurance Broker - form the largest financial group in Bulgaria.