All articles by Liz Bury
Liz Bury
Improve reporting rules, Leaseurope urges
Leaseurope has warned of wider economic consequences if leasing becomes harder to access for SMEs and startups as a result of proposed new lease accounting rules. Europes trade body for lessors said in its response to the draft standard on lease accounting that a large number of companies across Europe rely on leasing to finance their activity Leaseurope also claimed that the quality of the draft standard, issued by the IASB in August 2010, was too poor to enable the standard setter to respect its self-imposed deadline for the final version of June 2011.
Siemens gets bank licence
Siemens has received permission to set up Siemens Bank in Germany, giving it license to do structured loans in the country. It will also mean greater flexibility for Siemens in the way it is able to raise funds on the financial markets, through deposit-taking and from central bank funding. Siemens said it would expand the product portfolio of Siemens Financial Services, particularly in financing sales of Siemens products
Lombard: ‘We want to lend’
The UKs largest leasing business is banking on its parents branch network
Potential buyers circle LVM
Price is likely to be the sticking point in sale by government-owned bank Lombard has opened the door to buyers for its contract hire business Lombard Vehicle Management which it designated as non-core last June.
2010: it could have been worse
Leasing companies that have stayed the course during the crisis, when looking back at 2010, are likely to be thinking that it could have been worse The second half of the year has been peppered with stories about profit growth and strategies for future expansion. But the joint EU-IMF bailout of Ireland, confirmed at 90bn as Leasing Life went to press, is a sign that the aftershocks of the financial crisis are still far from over.
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Invigors builds fleet expertise
Humphreys played a lead role in the £500 million sale of Masterlease to General Motors, and will now consult on mergers, acquisitions and fleet leasing, as well as on other areas of leasing. Humphreys is credited with turning around Materleases Private Label Leasing operations in the UK from loss to profit within two years, and for developing a joint venture leasing business between General Motors and Materlease, which accounted for 60% of group turnover in 2010.
Editor’s letter: What’s in a name?
Or will the leasing product, and the people and cultures that have developed with it, fade to become just another faceless banking offer?
LVM on the block
Lombard has officially hoisted the for sale sign above its fleet business Lombard Vehicle Management After designating the car fleet specialist as non-core to its operations a year ago, it has considered disposing of or running down the business. A sale has always been on the cards as one of the things we could do, a Lombard spokesman said
What is the new normal?
Fears that leasing will become just another banking product and lose its independence were discussed by industry leaders in Hamburg last month. ING Lease chairman John Howland-Jackson aid bank-owned leasing has a competitive advantage but, “there is a line not to be crossed
SME focus for leasing
A call by coalition leader David Cameron for banks to increase lending to SMEs has been welcomed by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) and by Lombard, the UKs largest leasing company. Lombard, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, which was bailed out by the taxpayer during the financial crisis, has affirmed its commitment to SME lending.