KRUK Romania to increase investments in the next 2 years

KRUK Romania, leader of debt management market announces an increase of investments in the country in the next two years, in the context of the anniversary of the most profitable year, the fifteenth, on the local market.

“We recorded constant increases in the 15 years of activity of KRUK Group in debt collection industry in Romania, which peaked with records in 2021: we bought over 60 portfolios for local market only and came to manage the debts of over two million Romanians, from 15,000 clients with whom we started in 2007. In addition, we processed about 750,000 files on behalf of 34 business partners. These results, also generated by signing the agreement with UniCredit to purchase a portfolio which will bring a constant collecting dynamic on the market and we hope, as many recoveries as possible in our portfolios, make us significantly increase investments in Romania in the next two years”, Cosmina Marinescu, KRUK Romania CEO stated.

The Company, reaching a market share of 43% in 2021 according to investment value, signed at the end of the previous year an agreement with UniCredit Consumer Financing IFN to purchase a retail debts portfolio, not guaranteed, with total nominal value of up to 240 million LEI. By consolidating the partners’ portfolio with top companies on the banking market, IFN, utilities, and telecom, the business constantly contributes to the optimization of the financial flow and cash flow on macroeconomic level.

Last year, the branch in Romania of KRUK Group also succeeded in doubling the number of clients using eKRUK, a digital platform facilitating the efficient management of debts and online payment.

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“The fact that over 30,000 Romanians now actively use this platform is an important achievement, in the context in which, although more than 80% of the population has Internet access, studies show that only half use banking apps and 42% do not have a bank account. We have the lowest digital skills in Europe, however, over 8,000 clients paid their debts online last year and over 6,000 electronically signed their payment arrangements, sign that our digitization strategy worked and Romanians are starting to trust online tools”, Liviu Costică, KRUK Romania COO adds.

The payment arrangement is the most accessed digital product due to the fact that people with debts can choose the installment value, the arrangement term and due date on their own. The average value of an installment paid in the arrangement is LEI 260/month, but clients can also pay in full, case in which they have discounts. The number of clients who fully paid the debt and thusly reentered the functional financial circulation in 15 years of activity of the company is over 500,000, and more than half of them chose the provided amicable solutions.

The value of total investments in digitization and automation on the company level exceeds 32.5 million LEI and focuses on developing eKRUK platform, electronic and biometric signatures, but also the first robot on collecting market, which identifies clients payments and records them in their internal management app, made in collaboration with RPAbox and UiPath.

In terms of the company’s contribution to the state budget, KRUK Romania returned about 13 million LEI of the profit tax and about 160 million LEI of taxes and duties, in the same term.

Since 2007, the year when KRUK Group entered the Romanian market, the company increased employees number from 15 to 615 and aims to reach 650 in 2022. The average seniority in the company exceeds 5 years and was maintained during the pandemic when the business transferred all operations online in less than two weeks.

In the same context, 25 nongovernmental organizations were supported by KRUK Romania between 2012 – 2021, with resources worth over 2.3 million LEI in total. Among these, The Social Incubator, Junior Achievement Romania, Romanian Business Leaders, Red Cross, United Way, Lumea Copiilor Speciali, Ana și Copiii, Dăruieste Voce, Quantum Robotics, Zâmbește Împreună Învingem, Regina Maria and Hope and Homes for Children. The company is considering directing the amount of 125 thousand LEI in 2022 to support financial education efforts for over 5000 young people in Romania.