Finance Terry Kelleher has resigned after less than one year in the
post “to pursue outside interests”.
The news came amid speculation that the US-based commercial
finance company is facing difficulties after being hit by the
credit crunch.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
He will be replaced by Kris Snow, who has worked at CIT as
president and co-head of the Vendor segment, and was previously
president of CIT Vendor Finance, Americas.
Kelleher, who was appointed for the job in September 2007, had
previously been managing director of CIT Vendor Finance for the
Europe, Asia and South Pacific regions.
In his post at CIT, Kelleher was in charge of the company’s
successful Asian operations.
In particular, by the end of 2007, CIT had become the largest
foreign-owned leasing company and the second largest leasing
company overall in China. At the time, however, Kelleher told
Leasing Life that leasing in China is still in its infancy, as the
high failure rate of leasing companies over the last 10 years has
revealed, despite the high number of leasing licences issued.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataHe added: “The consequence is that few leasing operations with
any scale and capability exist in the market.
“Therefore, while rapid initial growth is not difficult to
achieve – huge write-offs and delinquencies often follow.”
The CIT group, which operates in 50 countries with more than $70
billion (€48.64 billion) in managed assets, has been shedding
assets to raise cash. But the company recently decided not to sell
its rail-leasing business to raise further cash.
The company’s CEO, Jeffrey Peek, said earlier in September that
it had been able to secure more than $11 billion in liquidity over
the past five months, and it would not need to sell other
assets.
Peek said: “Our decision to retain CIT Rail further illustrates
our enhanced liquidity position and confidence in our ability to
service our commercial clients and debt obligations over the next
year without accessing the unsecured debt markets.
“In addition, we will continue to review additional liquidity
alternatives across all of our businesses.”
Antonio Fabrizio
