the preserve of HBOS, but as it prepares for its integration within
Lloyds TSB there is uncertainty over whether this is still the
case.
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This follows the bank’s decision
earlier this year to fold its small ticket leasing arm, with
customers with turnovers of up to £1 million (€1.28 million), into
its corporate division in a move that will result in job losses and
a potential drop in business.
This is part of a wider move by the
bank, announced before the Lloyds tie-up, to fold business banking
into its corporate division. GE Capital Solutions has also
scaled-down its lending to SME business.
Elsewhere, HBOS scaled down its public
sector leasing arm earlier this year, and is understood to be
writing less business in the mid-ticket sector, including yacht
finance.
Hill Hire, its vehicle rental and
leasing arm with some 21,000 vehicles on its books, and which
between 2006 and 2007 saw sales turnover grow from £10.7 million to
£33.2 million, is reportedly up for sale.
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By GlobalDataAccording to year-end 2007 accounts,
Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, formed 20 years ago
this year, and managed by a team including Ceri Richards, David
Shindler, and Keith Glasscoe, had a sales turnover of £27 million
at year end 2006, £3 million less than the year before.
Dartford-based Bank of Scotland
Equipment Finance, headed by John McCabe and Derek Lamond, had net
assets of £11.6 million just over a year ago.
Last month a Bank of Scotland
spokesman said: “Bank of Scotland continues to be active in the
asset finance market. However, just like any other major bank, we
have become more selective about the business that we choose to
write.
“This is a matter of straightforward
prudence and nothing else.”
Meanwhile, the asset finance divisions
of Lloyds TSB, including structured asset finance, rail finance,
and corporate aircraft finance appears to be performing well.
Earlier this year Lloyds TSB Asset
Finance saw profits before tax grow 52 percent year-on-year to
reach £35 million.
According to public records, a
separately registered business, Lloyds TSB Asset Finance Division,
based in Gresham Street in London, and comprised of equipment
leasing, instalment credit and mortgage facilities, had a sales
turnover of £498 million at 31 December 2006.
Brendan Malkin
