The Bulgarian leasing market, largely dominated by the subsidiaries of international financial institutions, above all from Austria, Italy and Greece, achieved considerable growth in recent years. In the year 2008, the international crisis in the financial market left its mark on the banks and leasing companies and started to spread to the real economy, but it is expected that the full effect is yet to be felt in 2009. The automotive industry already saw its sales drop in 2008. This in turn had a negative impact on vehicle leasing.