Integration between banking and leasing will
mean repositioning for bank-owned lessors, including dropping some
asset types and even turning down clients.
Richard Carter, head of equipment finance at
HSBC, said, at Leasing Life’s annual conference in Milan, that
lessors will need to have a clear idea of their parent bank’s
strategy for a successful integration to take place.
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“[Leasing companies] will need to set their
expectations, explaining to their banking colleagues the value that
leasing can add, and then deliver it,” he added.
This might involve “tough decisions”, Carter
said. Lessors that are more bank-integrated might not be able to
“provide all the solutions all the time” and might have to drop
some of the assets they currently finance.
However, the relationship with the bank could
still help lessors to retain existing customers.
“If it isn’t asset finance, it can still be
lending. The bank can still fill the gap and provide a loan. And
for leasing, if we cannot support all the customers, our goal
should be to support more of them,” Carter said.
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By GlobalDataJukka Salonen, CEO of Nordea Finance, added
that banks and lessors need to find a “mutually beneficial
link”.
“There is not a single model for correct bank
integration, but the key element is that leasing must be seen as a
growth driver,” he said.
Bank-owned leasing companies also face a very
real risk of losing their own identities, Salonen added.
He said: “It will depend on how well the bank
understands the value of leasing for its customers. It is up to
lessors to prove that the solutions offered are more than lending
and that leasing can add value to the bank’s business.”
If a leasing company is able to do this, Salonen said, then it
will still be recognised as “part of the DNA of the bank” and
integral to its business.
