Empowering Hungary's financing landscape: the Hungarian Leasing Association 

The Hungarian National Bank. Credit: posztos via Shutterstock

The Hungarian Leasing Association (HLA) is a professional lobbying organisation acting as the official representative of domestic asset financing companies (leasing companies, banks and financial enterprises) operating in Hungary since it was established in 1991. Based in Budapest, it has 36 member companies financing cars and the real estate assets of about 500,000 individuals and 200,000 businesses worth more than HUF 1,300 billion.  

The purpose of the HLA is to make asset-based financing as widely known as possible in Hungary, and to collect and present objective information related to the financing of investment decisions for its member companies and their clients (both companies and individuals).  

To this end, the HLA has established various committees looking into various issues that affect the leasing industry, including motor vehicle financing, equipment and trucks, ethics, fleet services, and risk management, among others. 

Since 2016, it has been a member of Leaseurope (founded in 1972), which is the European Federation of Leasing Company Associations, an umbrella organisation for the various leasing associations across the continent. This enables the HLA to establish closer cooperation with other leasing associations across Europe and gain better insight into relative market trends. 

The HLA also has a number of partners:

In 2007, it signed a cooperation agreement with the Hungarian Banking Association (HBA) to promote the development of the legal and regulatory environment for the operation of its member organisations, among other features. The two Associations participate in each other's events as part of the cooperation, they mutually consult on draft legislation and regulatory concepts that come to them for consultation and comment, and agree on positions, and sometimes joint action. In 2018, the HLA became an associate member of the HBA. Since 2018, the Leasing Association has been an associate member of the Hungarian Bank Association. 

The HLA also signed a cooperation agreement in 2007 with the Hungarian Factoring Association (HFA) to act jointly in eliminating the competitive disadvantage of non-loan financing products (especially factoring and leasing) compared to loans, expanding the knowledge of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises about financing, and developing Hungarian financial culture. 

In 2008, the HLA signed a cooperation agreement with the National Police Headquarters to prevent leasing fraud. The two organisations strengthen existing cooperation by collecting and analysing crime data. HLA experts have compiled a special textbook for students at the Police Officer College to identify the leasing frauds that often occur as a combination of crimes. 

Also in 2008, the HLA signed a cooperation agreement with the Hungarian National Bank (the central bank), to mutually provide each other with professional information regarding the Hungarian economy and the leasing market, cooperate on issues affecting the leasing market, and act to raise the level of Hungarian financial culture. 

Since 2014, the HLA, with the cooperation of its Education Committee, has been supporting the PénzSztár National Secondary School Finance and Economics Competition as a professional partner, compiling leasing-specific tasks for the participants in the competition.