FIVE international collection agencies operating in Slovakia founded the Association of Slovak Collection Agencies (ASINS) in mid October 2010. Its primary goal is to represent the interests of professional companies active in collection of receivables and secure their proper operation in the market. The founding members of ASINS are EOS KSI Slovensko, Intrum Justitia Slovakia, Coface Slovakia Credit Management Services, Creditre form and Transcom Worldwide Slovakia, ASINS wrote in its press release.
ASINS further wrote that its main aim is to represent and protect the interests of its members, pursue the protection of legal norms related to collection of receivables and build a good reputation for professional companies engaged in collection of receivables. Martin Šoltes, ASINS president, said that vaguely formulated legal conditions for operation of collection agencies in the market leads some collection agencies to use unfair practices when collecting receivables. "ASINS wants to make the situation in the market for receivables more transparent and especially prevent operation of unqualified companies using such unfair practices," said Šoltes.
The five founding members account for about 80 percent of the Slovak receivables market. In 2009 they managed 525,499 receivable accounts worth €396.84 million in total, which was almost 45 percent more than in 2008. Of that total, receivables from companies and businesses amounted to €53.64 million and receivables from private individuals were €158.1 million. Foreign receivables accounted for €22.3 million and the remaining €162.8 million represented receivables that individual members of ASINS acquired and now administer. The ambition of ASINS is also to represent the Slovak businesses active in the collection of receivables at the international level and become a member of the Federation of European National Collection Associations (FENCA).
