BZ WBK Lease, which is among the top rapidly expanding leasing companies in Poland, has been offered a loan of up to €50 million by the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). This loan is aimed at assisting sustainable energy investment projects of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

Improving the efficiency in energy is a good way to handle the high energy and carbon intensiveness of the polish economy. Even though a large number of rural SMEs understands how important reduction of energy cost can be, just about one-third engages in energy saving. In the light of this problem, the Polish Sustainable Financing Facility (PolSEFF) scheme was launched by EBRD in 2010. Leasing operations was later introduced to the scheme.

This fund by the EBRD which was provided under the PolSEFF scheme to BZ WBK Lease will be utilized for the acquisition of equipment for sustainable energy. These equipments are leased to qualified enterprises. BZ WBK Lease is a subsidiary of Bank Zachodni WBK Group and operates in partnership with BZ WBK Leasing.

Over the past four years in the Polish market, BZ WBK has been the fastest growing leasing enterprise. In 2011 they were ranked 6th, and swiftly flew to 2nd in the first part of 2015, having a 13%.market share.

The major focus of the business is on SME sector. They specifically focused on funding the purchase of machinery and equipment category which they lead with 13% market share in the first part of 2015.

The Director of Insurance and Financial service at EBRD, Noel Edison, reaffirmed the organisations pleasure in extending the new credit line to BZ WBK Lease which has been an associate of the EBRD. Due to the constant change in economic climate around the world, reduction of costs related to expenses on energy is still a key factor for the success of companies, especially with the large SME sector of Poland. However the equipments make it possible to proffer solution to the needs of this key sector of the economy of Poland.

The Vice President of BZ WBK Lease, Tomasz Jader stated that as an environmental friendly company, which is also a leading company in the leasing market, it wishes to assist SMEs in Poland with needed capital for increased efficiency in energy. Because of this fact, we are collaborating with the EBRD and funding ecological machines and equipments.

With an estimate of over €7.6 billion invested in polish economy since 1991 when the Bank commenced operation in the country, the EBRD is amongst top investors in Poland.

EBRD targets reducing carbon in Polish economy and improving the role of the private sectors in the economy. They also aim at supporting the growth of a viable financial sector and capital markets.