Billionaire to Launch Collection Agency in Poland

The ARM market in Poland is about to get a new high-profile competitor.

Leszek Czarnecki is set to launch a debt collection agency called getBack, according to the public relations chief of his holding company. “The firm will start operating within a month. We are currently in the process of recruitment,” Maria Bnińska, head of PR at Getin Holding, told the Warsaw Business Journal.

Czarnecki is the fourth-richest man in Poland, according to Forbes’ 2012 ranking of extremely rich people. He made his fortune in consumer-facing finance, initially starting a leasing business that he sold in 2001 to Credit Agricole.

The consumer credit market and ARM industry in Poland is small but relatively mature.  According to Polish financial institution Bank Zachodni WBK, the face value of non-performing debts in the country was around $2 billion in 2011, with the total expected to rise to $2.4 billion in 2012.