Leasing will be recorded in the register – Newspaper Kommersant No. 214 (7415) dated 11/18/2022

Against the background of the lengthening of the terms of deliveries of leasing items to the Russian market, the deputies accelerated the adoption of a bill designed to ensure the protection of lessees. The document should protect the segment from potential fraudulent transactions and unfair competition. The problem mainly concerns the retail segment of leasing: cars and trucks and some types of construction equipment.

On November 17, the State Duma adopted in the first reading billwhich guarantees “ensuring the reliability of information on financial lease agreements” in the unified register of information on the facts of the activities of legal entities (“Fedresurs”), as well as “counteracting unfair competition in the field of leasing.”

It is assumed that leasing companies will be required to enter into the register information on the conclusion of contracts no later than three business days from the date of transfer of equipment to the lessee, and not from the date of signing.

According to the developers of the draft law, the publication of information will improve the disclosure of information about the risks that lessees may face.

In particular, this will help avoid situations where the same equipment is twice transferred by an unscrupulous owner as a pledge or under a financial lease (leasing) agreement or is sold in order to create the effect of a “good faith acquisition”.

In addition, the explanatory note says, “in practice, situations often arise when, after the conclusion of a leasing agreement, the lessee refuses the leasing agreement before the transfer of the leased asset to him.” The existing entry in the registry “actually misleads users of the registry” because the legal relationship has not yet come into being.

The problem of unfair competition has been in leasing for a long time, Kommersant’s sources say. However, it concerns mainly “retail” – small and private companies, as well as companies engaged in car leasing for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Situations when, between the conclusion of a leasing agreement and the receipt of a leased asset, some companies took customers from others, could occur in the segment of cars and trucks, as well as retail special equipment, explains Alexei Kirkorov, president of the United Leasing Association.

This is due to logistical problems and difficulties with access to leasing items on the market, explains Zoya Sovetkina, junior director for banking ratings at Expert RA. The time interval between the conclusion of the contract and the delivery of the leased asset, especially for European brands, can reach six months, she notes.

The problem was actively raised, for example, by Europlan, one of the largest private leasing companies in the Russian Federation, specializing in car leasing. Back in 2016, in an interview with the Expert RA rating agency, the former CEO of Europlan, Alexander Mikhailov, noted that the industry needed not a register of leasing transactions, but a register of asset encumbrances. Thus, according to him, the list of leasing transactions “only kills competition and confidential information about lessees, while not affecting the financial stability of the leasing industry.”

The proposed changes “will help improve the reliability of information on financial lease agreements and make the market more transparent,” said Sabina Koroleva, director of business support at VTB Leasing. At the same time, she believes, innovations exclude opportunities for unfair competition and do not impose significant burdens on leasing companies.

Polina Trifonova