Intesa Leasing has grown over the past 20 years from a market newcomer to a company that has achieved the leadership position for the second consecutive year, excelling in all key performance indicators of leasing operations, explains Nebojša Janićijević
Speaking in this CorD Magazine interview, President of the Executive Board of Intesa Leasing Nebojša Janićijević reveals that his company outpaced market growth in 2024, thanks to continuous efforts to enhance and optimise its operations. Our conversation also touched on process automation, the development and enhancement of the company’s offer, pricing strategies, expansion of the partner network and the crowning achievement of Intesa Leasing’s work to date: the local market’s first fully digitally signed financial leasing agreement.
Serbia’s leasing market achieved yearon- year growth of approximately 25% in the first half of 2024, with this trend expected to continue in the future. What is Intesa Leasing’s position in this context, and what kind of year-end results do you expect?
— The high growth rates of the leasing market reflect not only the prospects of the leasing industry in Serbia, but also significant growth of our economy as a whole.
Leasing has been recognised as an essential product for financing investment needs, particularly for the SMEs that are the drivers of economic growth. At Intesa Leasing, we are focused on them in particular. In an effort to enhance their customer experience, we began transforming our business model over 12 years ago.
The first cycle of this transformation concluded in 2020, when the Intesa Leasing portal—a unique sales tool that allows clients to apply for financing online and receive approval within minutes—was deployed. However, we didn’t stop there.
We have exerted significant efforts over the last two years in developing a platform for digitally signing contracts and other documentation, receiving strong support from our partners
Thanks to the synergy of our longstanding efforts, which included digitalisation and process automation, as well as the development and enhancement of our offer, the application of an appropriate pricing policy and the expansion of our partner network, we this year crowned our work by signing the first digitally signed financial leasing contract on our market. As a result, Intesa Leasing not only grew faster than the market in 2024, at a rate of 33%, but we will also end the year as the absolute market leader, with the market’s highest levels of new production, portfolio and assets.
Four new leasing companies have emerged on our market over the last two years, while the share of financial leasing has also increased, yet we still lag behind the European average. Where do you see room for further growth?
— Under the dynamic conditions created by a highly competitive environment, it is certain that maintaining a leadership position requires directing efforts towards further developing an offer that will best respond to the changing needs of clients over time. I would say that, at Intesa Leasing, thanks to our existing portal for quick approvals, as well as the fully paperless financing process we implemented this year, we have laid solid foundations that provide significant savings for clients in terms of both time and money.
Regardless of that, prospects exist for further growth and closing the gap with the European average, reflected in the further development of personnel and the strengthening of partnership relations with suppliers and institutions that are significant stakeholders in the execution process, as well as during the lease contract period, and in securing access to additional sources of funding. All of this aims to achieve even greater speed and simplicity of approval, security in collection and the enhancement of the portfolio’s overall quality.
You mentioned that you have created the first fully paperless solution on our financial market. Could you tell us more about that?
— We have exerted significant efforts over the last two years in developing a platform for digitally signing contracts and other documentation, and it is here that we also received strong support from our partners. Firstly, in cooperation with the Office for IT and eGovernment of the Republic of Serbia, we enabled the implementation of their ConsentID – a qualified electronic signature in the cloud – in our internal processes, with the increase in internal efficiency serving as the basis to implement electronic signatures in providing our services. To make this work, we complemented the process with a complete solution for managing and processing electronic documentation from our partner EIM, as well as the Gemikro IT solution, which integrates contracting processes and the realisation of financing in one place.
Not only did we outpace market growth in 2024, achieving a growth rate of 33%, but we will also end the year as the absolute leader, with the highest levels of new production, portfolio and assets
This allowed us to create the conditions to implement the first fully paperless solution on our financial market, enabling clients and suppliers to digitally sign contractual documentation and thus significantly improving the efficiency of cooperation between all participants in the process. I am proud that, in just the three months since the launch of this service, we have nearly 170 digitally signed contracts, with over 1,200 documents, totalling a value of more than 4.2 million euros. In addition to distinguishing us as leaders in digitalisation, this service is fully aligned with our focus on implementing ESG principles in our operations, particularly in the area of improving resource consumption efficiency.
Paperless solutions are truly aligned with the application of ESG principles, which are being discussed increasingly. Do you find additional ways to integrate them into your business?
— Introducing the possibility of digitally signing contractual documentation is an obvious example of implementing ESG principles, as each digitally signed contract saves paper equivalent to the amount needed to produce 4.5 kilograms of wood. However, in line with the strategic goals of our Intesa Sanpaolo Group, we are focused on applying ESG principles primarily through support for the financing of vehicles and other projects in the field of sustainable energy sources. In these efforts, we strive to provide our clients with the support of the Group and collaboration with supranational institutions, with the most favourable conditions for funding and grants for financing green projects. I believe that we are on the right track, as we have to date supported nearly 1,000 projects with over 44.7 million euros, with demand growing consistently.
Intesa Leasing last year celebrated two decades of operations. We’d like to congratulate you and ask what plans and ambitions you have moving forward.
— Our more than 20 years have been filled with numerous opportunities and challenges, and we have dedicated them to the goal of always being one step ahead of trends and responding appropriately to all the needs of our clients and the market. Testifying to this path having been the right one for us are the results that have brought us from a completely new company on the market to a position where we are leaders in all parameters of leasing business success for the second consecutive year. Our ambitions for the future remain unchanged: along with a strategic focus on the application of modern technologies, artificial intelligence and sustainability principles in business, we continue to prioritise strengthening our employees and improving working conditions, as our success is the result of the exceptional effort and dedication of our people.