All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Lessors need to claw back another 100 basis points
Throughout the leasing industry an average of 50-100 basis points has been lost on margin, according to Alain Vervaet, the CEO of ING Lease Holding. Speaking at Leasing Lifes AFD conference, Vervaet went on to say that the industry will need to gradually increase margins by 100 basis points in order to recover. This is something you have to share with your vendor there will have to be new negotiations on the pricing side, he remarked.
GE to integrate Interbanca
General Electric has revealed that the financial services and leasing activities of Interbanca, which it recently acquired, will be rolled into GE Commercial Finance. Discussions are under way about possibly rebranding Interbanca as GE Capital, the finance arm of GE. Interbancas business includes leasing and factoring as well as other financial activities mainly focused on the needs of the SME sector.
Van registrations down 50% in November
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said that the total number of CV registrations in November was over 42 percent down compared to the same period one year ago.
Government plans extra £1bn of support for SMEs
The government announcedin its budget a new scheme designed to guarantee up to£1 billion of bank lending to small businesses The proposal for a Small Business Finance Scheme includes provision of up to £1 million for each firm.
Scale of Leicester-based Global EPP scandal emerges as manufacturer accused
As more details were unearthed last month of the scale of the Global EPP scam, it emerged that lessors bought no less than 579 pieces of equipment for the Leicester-based plastics manufacturer, and yet only 71 of these machines actually existed. Further details of the nature of the alleged fraud have also appeared, including the involvement of the manufacturer of the equipment comprised exclusively of extrusion line machines in the scandal.
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DLL and Cargobull sign deal with Polish food giant
The Polish arm of Cargobull Finance (CBF), a joint venture between De Lage Landen and Schmitz Cargobull (SCB), has financed the acquisition of 160 trailers from SCB by Polands largest food retail chain, Biedronka. The trailers will be delivered by the end of the year, as part of the new transport fleet that Biedronka is setting up to serve its 1,090 retail outlets in Poland.
Barclays closes broker-introduced asset finance
Barclays Asset and Sales Finance (BA&SF) has closed broker-introduced asset finance to new business, but assured Leasing Life it is still open to direct business. BA&SF, part of Barclays Commercial, said that the measure was only taken temporarily, but had no forecasts on how long the ban will remain in place. A spokesman for BA&SF said that at least for the moment the unit would focus its efforts on its direct market, where it was still very much receiving business.
2008 holds sting in the tail for Belarusian lessors
Leasing companies in Belarus have seen a decrease in business as 2008 has progressed, according to Alyaksandr Tsybulka, the chairman of the Belarusian Union of Leasing Companies, who spoke at a Minsk press conference this month on the subject.He said that the industry’s performance in Q4 would be down compared with the first three quarters of this year.2007 saw an increase in business volume of 44 percent compared to 2006 for Belarus leasing companies, a growth rate that will by all accounts be greatly diminished when year end results for 2008 are published
BNP Paribas to cut broker links in UK
Following Barclays Asset & Sales Finances decision to close its broker introduced arm to new business, BNP Paribas Lease Group (BPLG) has announced that it will cease some of its Europe-wide broker business as of January 1. Mike Dix, the UK managing director of BPLG, confirmed in December that it will be closing its broker sales channels in its technology solutions division as of this date.
Bundling and transparency are keys for future success
By bundling, lessors can help differentiate themselves from their competitors by demonstrating a customer-centric offer, according to Bret Thomas, Xerox Financial Services managing director. For Xerox, bundling means integrating everything pricing, risk, documentation, how you bill, how you collect into an all-encompassing value-proposition, said Thomas, speaking at the AFD event. In our case, customers have a basic need they are looking for a total cost of ownership