All articles by Antonio Fabrizio
Antonio Fabrizio
Conference sparks industry debate
More than 100 industry leaders attended a conference organised by global lease software provider International Decision Systems (IDS) in Minneapolis on June 18, to discuss best practices in leasing technology. More than 50 sessions were offered on topics such as multi-currency, asset usage, workflow automation and managing multiple back office systems, as well as the latest product updates from IDS, including InfoLease, Rapport and ProFinia.
Work-Life Quiz: Manuela Pachoinig UniCredit Leasing
Current job: Head of vendor and cross-border business at UniCredit Leasing Career: About 20 years experience within the UniCredit Leasing Group, with roles from running the cross-border business from Austria into CEE countries, to setting up the new subsidiaries in Romania and Slovenia
Online fleet sales rev up
The company, whose 1link.co.uk e-commerce platform is used by fleets to order new cars and vans from franchise dealers, has reported orders up 50% for the year to end-June, but has still not reaching pre-recession levels. Epyx head of business development Ken Trinder said: Fleets are certainly buying cars and vans in much higher numbers than during the last couple of years, but are not automatically repeating orders in the same way they would have done before the recession
GE Capital targets SMEs
American leasing giants UK subsidiary forms new team The UK division of GE Capital has made a number of appointments in its business development team, in line with its plans to expand operations across the country.
Driver behaviour key to fleet management
Information about driver behaviour which should be at the heart of fleet managers decision-making process regularly goes unrecorded, according to fleet management software provider CFC Solutions.
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Brussels watch: Cross-border SMEs are innovative
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an international presence perform better than those without, according to a new study by the European Commission. The report, based on a survey of 9,500 companies, showed that international SMEs are more innovative and create more jobs. Overall, 26% of internationally-active SMEs introduced new products or services to their country last year, compared to 8% for other SMEs
Supporting small business
The invoice finance market is picking up as a result of the recession. Invoice finance has traditionally been considered as a separate entity from leasing However a culture shift in the past few years has seen companies such as Frances Crdit Agricole merge their leasing and factoring divisions to reveal areas of common ground for lessors and invoice financiers.
Syscap sees 132% increase in tax funding demand
UK independent financier Syscap has seen an upsurge in demand for tax funding, a sign that businesses are still struggling to fund their tax bills The lessor, which specialises in IT finance and tailored financial solutions for the professions sector, had 156 requests for tax funding in the April-July period this year a 132 percent increase from the 67 requests received in the same period one year ago. According to Syscap, the growing reluctance of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to approve deferred payment of tax under its Time to pay taxation scheme has contributed to the surge in funding requests
Deutsche Leasing appoints Ostermann as new CEO
Germanys largest lessor Deutsche Leasing has appointed Kai Ostermann as its new CEO from August 1 He replaces well-known leasing veteran Hans-Michael Heitmueller, who will retire with the expiration of his contract on July 31, after 11 years at the helm of the company Ostermann joined Deutsche Leasings managing board in 2006 and has served as second-in-command since October 2008, heading a number of business units and key strategic initiatives
GRENKE opens third UK office
Germanys GRENKE Group reported a higher net interest income and a tangible decrease in losses in the second quarter of 2010, following a growth of its international business The company recorded a net interest income of 19.5m for the second quarter of 2010 a 10 percent increase from Q2 2009