October saw the fastest month of year-on-year growth in leasing business volume in the UK, according to the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA).
Total asset finance business for the month for deals of less than £20m was £1.86bn (2.29bn), up 19% compared to the 2011 figure.
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Business volume for the 12 months to October was up 10% year-on-year to reach £20.9bn and the FLA figures show leasing business has outstripped total business investment by 2.2 percentage points for the year-to-date.
Data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics shows total business investment grew 4.8% over the 10 months to October while leasing grew 7% over the same period.
Julian Rose, head of Asset Finance at the FLA, said: "These statistics show that FLA members are helping over 20,000 UK businesses invest each month, across all sectors of the economy and in all regions."
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By GlobalDataFollowing the pattern of growth throughout 2012, the IT equipment and business equipment sectors saw the greatest surge in volumes in October, up 31% and 32% respectively. Car finance was also up, growing 26% year-on-year for the month.
The FLA has recently announced it was campaigning for the inclusion of equipment leasing in the UK Government’s proposed Business Bank following research by the Open University, which has been backed by the Association.
A survey of 1,000 SMEs found just under half of small UK business expect the government lending bank to help increase investment and nearly two-thirds of businesses said providing adequate access to finance should be the main priority of the Bank.
Rose said: "The Open University research shows clearly that SMEs want the Government’s new Business Bank to help them invest in their businesses. With this in mind, the FLA has suggested that the Business Bank should include a scheme specifically aimed at boosting investment by businesses in new equipment, with the support of the UK’s equipment finance industry.
"The Business Bank should promote a high-profile small business equipment investment scheme. This would help businesses to obtain new equipment at lower cost and with less need for additional security."
grant.collinson@leasinglife.com
