Water risky deal
A cautionary tale now from the book of broker
Kennet Equipment Leasing, which experienced its biggest ever
write-off during the carnage afflicting Wall Street in September
2008.
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Brokers generally take only the sweetest and
safest business onto their own books, and so it was when Kennet’s
directors decided to fund £8,000 ($12,160) worth of water coolers
for the London offices of Lehman Brothers.
Little did they know, they were hurling their
money into the direct centre of a financial nightmare.
When Lehman collapsed, haemorrhaging worthless
securities, it took the coolers – and Kennet’s cash – with it. Just
goes to show, you can never be too careful.
This story is reminiscent of the one about Cru
Investment Management’s debts to Investec Asset Finance.
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By GlobalDataGiven Cru’s importance in the UK’s asset
management world, when Investec filed a winding-up petition against
Cru, the world’s business media pricked up its ears and splashed
the story across the inner pages of their periodicals.
Little did they know, however, that the whole
thing was something of a storm in a teacup. The debts, it turned
out, totalled just £10,000, and concerned something as unglamorous
as office equipment.
Sounds familiar
With virtually nothing at all happening in the
€300-billion-per-year world of European asset finance, it is easy
to understand how a new entrant into the industry’s trade press
might look to its competitors to pick up inspiration, news or, dare
we say it, flaming great chunks of copy.
After publishing the fruits of an exclusive
chat with one of Europe’s most prominent leasing CEOs, imagine one
Leasing Life scribe’s surprise to see his interviewee’s
remarks reproduced verbatim and used as the lead story of a
competing online title, four weeks later.
Sadly, the astonished reporter could not read
the rest of his own story on the competitor’s website as, for some
unexplained reason, it could not be accessed from LL’s
computers. Instead, LL reporters were re-routed to a third
party’s website.
Hardly sporting, particularly given said
competitor’s love of lifting LL stories.
Needless to say, the CEO originally
interviewed was equally surprised by all this, having never spoken
to the competing reporter, but having received a number of
inquisitive phone calls about the article afterwards.
As well-known bastions of honour, decency and
humility, LL staff would urge their compatriots to at
least ask sources before nicking quotes in future.
In any case, they should have plenty to write
about as it is.
Staff from the competitor title, while
attending the recent FLA dinner, were seated right next to the
directors of a certain UK brokerage that LL has not always
seen eye to eye with in past, and presumably had an awful lot to
talk about.
We look forward to reading the upcoming
profile.
Billing man slapped with his own
bill
He’s normally in charge of making sure
customers cough up their cash, but a billing administrator for
Lombard’s Birmingham branch recently found himself slapped with a
hefty bill after twice committing parking offences in the city
centre.
Faisal Razaq, who lives in Honneybourne Way,
Willenhall, was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling more than
£1,200 after being caught in August and September last year
illegally parking his Rover 25 in Granville Street, Birmingham.
A number of other RBS employees were also hit
with fines for parking offences – and some were even caught in the
same street.
They included Camille Murphy, Mohibur Rahman,
Jackie Taylor and Angela Hare, all caught in Granville Street,
which is near Lombard’s Birmingham office.
Here’s hoping Razaq doesn’t offer parking tips
to clients.
Meetings lost in a dust
storm
Strategic briefings, supper clubs, even the
risk functions of colossal motor lenders – all were but dust before
the wind of…. well, some dust in the wind, as it happens.
For such an international industry as this
one, the panic-driven cessation of British air travel in the middle
of last month caused havoc.
An aviation finance supper club run by a
sectoral specialist was the most ironic victim of The Dust, losing
several attendees to the whim of Icelandic vulcanism, while the
hatches were also battened down at consultancy firm Invigors, which
had to postpone its briefing on manufacturer finance.
Furthermore, a planned interview with the
collections department at Volkswagen Financial Services fell to the
wayside as several key staff members were stranded abroad.
Dustings of sand were reportedly seen on cars
as far south as State Securities in Portsmouth, while factoring
broker Hilton Baird’s managing director was denied a visit to her
new business in Germany.
Carnage.
