Success
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KRUK came into being in 1998 as a legal publishing house in Wrocław (Poland). Given the firm's specialisation, companies began to contact the founders for advice on how to deal with clients who failed to pay their debts. This is the story of how Kruk developed into a debt management company that now has a presence in many European countries. Piotr Krupa, one of the founders, has been chairing the Board of Directors since 1998.

 

Over twenty years have gone by, and the KRUK Group continues to offer affordable debt management solutions to its clients. Its basic strategy is to negotiate with debtors on convenient payment dates and conditions, taking into account each client’s current financial situation. This solution allows debt repayment deadlines to be set with sums adapted to each client's ability to pay.

 

Over the years, that small company with barely a dozen staff members has become an international group, with a team of over 3,000 employees. And Alina Giurgea, General Manager of KRUK Spain, tells us that 300 of these employees work in Spain.

 

 

You arrived in Spain in 2015. What has this expansion meant for KRUK?

We’re very happy with the company's development in Spain. At the moment we're market leaders in countries like Romania and Poland. Since our arrival in 2015, Spain has been a strategic market for KRUK at a global level. Moreover, in recent years we've seen how the market for buying and selling unsecured debt portfolios has taken off in Spain, driven by investor confidence and the strength of the Spanish market, and we’re confident that this volume of transactions will remain stable over the coming years.

 

What type of portfolios are you acquiring in Spain?

In recent years, we've acquired portfolios from some very important financial institutions, such as Bankia, Carrefour Financial Services, BNP and Unicaja.

 

How has the company evolved in Spain since 2015?

At KRUK Spain, we're committed to technology and innovation, and we aim to offer the best solutions to our clients and business partners. We’re very happy with the company's development in Spain. In terms of business, we're talking about over one million cases and over 5 billion euros under management at the current time.

 

What investments has the company made in Spain?

We started out in 2015 with just ten staff, and we now employ over 300 people. We're committed to achieving a balance between endogenous and exogenous growth. With a great deal of effort, we've become a benchmark company in the sector and we have invested over 250 million euros to date since entering the Spanish market. We are pursuing a selective investment strategy that will allow us to continue to grow and to consolidate our leading position in the sector.

 

     

 

What role does Spain play in your strategy?

Spain is a strategic country for Kruk at a global level; it’s a consolidated, highly professionalised market that meets all the necessary investment conditions. For the KRUK Group, Spain is a young market that, together with Italy, offers a high potential for growth in the coming years.

 

What types of clients do you work with?

We call everyone with an outstanding debt a client. We don’t like to use the word debtors. The truth is that there’s no typical client profile, as each situation is completely different — things vary from person to person. What we do see is that consumer loans tend to become primary debts.

 

What projects do you currently have underway?

We're in a growth phase, focusing on investments that guarantee the ongoing expansion of our business. To achieve this, we rely on two key factors: operational excellence and process automation. Furthermore, our corporate culture and values allow us to stand out from our competitors and continue developing a successful model, one that we have already established in several EU countries. Our strategy sets us apart from the competition. And it has proven successful, with a solid performance in the countries where we operate. Moreover, we believe that our clients' success in repaying their debt is also our own success.

 

^{Photos: KRUK}