Nebojša Janićijević, President of the Intesa Leasing Executive Board

Our clear strategy, which is focused on simultaneously achieving business goals and strengthening the market in which we operate in an economic sense, has brought us excellent results,” emphasises President of the Intesa Leasing Executive Board Nebojša Janićijević with pride.

Intesa Leasing is ranked at the very top among leasing companies in Serbia. What do you think is the specific reason why most clients ultimately choose your company, among the many at their disposal?

Intesa Leasing, as part of the Intesa Sanpaolo international group, has been ranked at the very top of the domestic leasing industry for many years already, primarily thanks to a clear strategy that is focused on simultaneously achieving business goals and strengthening the market in which we operate in an economic sense.

Thanks to a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, the digitalisation of almost all business processes, the diversification of sales channels, continuous management of portfolio quality, the levels of NPLs and costs, Intesa Leasing has become synonymous with reliability, expertise and financial strength.

When it comes to the specific reasons why Intesa Leasing is the number one choice for most clients, I would first point out the financing of leasing items that serve in the function of generating revenue for clients, and which are provided under very attractive interest rates and repayment periods. In this way, clients don’t only receive support via investments in fixed assets that increase their income, but also via the possibility of repaying leasing services without any difficulties, with very low financing costs and longer repayment deadlines.

The leasing industry has been recording intensive and even double-digit growth in Serbia in recent years, both in terms of demand and sales, and Intesa Leasing itself is realising stable, controlled and diversified growth that is even faster than that of the market

In cooperation with the European Investment Bank, your company has for years approved leases for various purposes to SMEs in Serbia. How would you assess the effects of this cooperation, both for you as a company and for the SME economy?

The more than successful cooperation between Intesa Leasing and the European Investment Bank (EIB) is based on the realisation of mutually harmonised goals, primarily through a focus on SMEs. By securing lines of credit for the financing of investments under the most favourable conditions on the market, Intesa Leasing – in cooperation with the EIB – provides its clients with support for their growth and development under conditions that are similar to, or even more favourable than, those available to companies in the EU. I would stress that this type of cooperation with the EIB wouldn’t be possible without the huge support of one of the most stable international financial groups, our parent bank Intesa Sanpaolo, primarily in the form of guarantees for credit lines approved by the EIB.

What are your plans for this year; can you say that leasing has come to fruition as a sector across the Balkans?

In accordance with our company’s strategic commitment to the automotive industry, at the recent Motor Show, we presented the WEB Portal that enabled interested companies to receive a response to submitted funding requests within just a few minutes and without any documentation whatsoever.

We will continue to focus on the financing of commercial vehicles, the procurement of haulage vehicles, buses and construction plant machinery, as well as on the financing of real estate, which Intesa Leasing is the only company to have introduced to the market.

I can state freely that the results we’ve achieved provide us with the basis to set ambitious goals for this year and next, the realisation of which we are primarily planning through changes to flows in the actual process of approving leasing requests, as well as through the complete automation of operations.