only be his final year in charge of the German Leasing Association
but also one of the most challenging of his career. He speaks to
Fred Crawley.
will step down as managing director of the German Leasing
Association (BDL). It is expected to roughly coincide with the
predicted takeover by Germany as European number one lessor by
size.
At the time of writing, statistics published by BDL show the
German market up by 3.3 percent over the year, corresponding to a
€57 billion figure for new business – no easy feat, given the heavy
weight of industrial slowdown and decreased vehicle registration
that it has had to support.
Although Westebbe cannot realistically be said to have been the
sole reason for this achievement, it can be said he has contributed
to the growth of his association.
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During his tenure the association merged with another leasing
association in Germany, IDL. This was a very different organisation
made up of smaller companies from Germany’s SME leasing market.
“It was a big task to form a common association,” says Westebbe.
“The smaller companies wanted much more support, service and
information on a daily basis, whereas the bigger companies
preferred to be involved in lobbying. Without taking on any extra
staff in the association, we suddenly had a lot more work to
do.”
Eight years later, the BDL represents 90 percent of Germany’s
leasing book, with around 190 members on its books and outstandings
of more than €55 billion. Membership has remained roughly constant
in recent years, according to Westebbe, but there is some fluidity
to the total.
“Although we won 60 new members since 2003, we lost 70 – mostly
smaller companies who were bought by larger ones, or who exited the
market as finance providers and became brokers.”
In order to attend to the needs of this dynamic crowd, BDL’s
staff of 10 has a constant roster of support functions to fulfil,
ranging from the provision of regular market statistics and reports
to the organisation of events both social and
educational.
Beyond this though, the organisation has a large and ever
growing political function, to which Westebbe devotes a lot of his
time.
This aspect of BDL came to the fore in 2008, when he became
embroiled in negotiations with financial supervisory body BaFIN to
repeal an increased trade tax that had befallen lessors on the back
of a company tax reform in 2007.
Although BDL was successful in changing the tax situation, this
success came at the price of increased regulation, via the
implementation of a ‘light’ version of German banking regulations
currently enforced by BaFIN.
Whereas the general structure for the new rules has been agreed,
details will emerge as the year progresses – meaning a lot more
meetings with politicians for Westebbe before his retirement.
These meetings will take their place among his schedule of
committee meetings, report reading and company liaisons.
“My job is almost all communication,” says Westebbe. “Most weeks
I will spend at least a day or two travelling round Germany to meet
with members, and then the rest of the time in meetings back in
Berlin, either in conference with companies or with the
government.”
As far as he is concerned, Westebbe’s final year with the
association will be focused not on speculation about the worsening
international business environment, but on keeping the pressure on
the economic factors within the BDL’s influence.
“Of course 2009 will not be as good a year as 2008, and although
there are no figures predicted, I would not be surprised if growth
becomes static,” he says.
“Although we cannot solve all of members’ problems, we can
support them in refinancing, and speak to both banks and
politicians about the low risk of leasing as a channel for
investment.”
Westebbe is straightforward in talking about the recession in
Europe, but is keener to talk about more down-to-earth goals.
“Besides the general business situation though, there is a lot
of work to do. Both in terms of challenging the new supervision and
in managing incoming accounting regulations, the political work
will not stop.”
Timeline – Friedhelm Westebbe
• Born in 1946, Duisburg
• Baccalaureate 1966, Duisburg
• Military training and work at Siemens, 1970
• Study for economics diploma, 1974, Bonn
• Joined staff of German Savings Banks and Giro Association,
1982, Bonn
• Managing Director of the leasing company LGS Sparkasse GmbH
1992, Bad Homburg
• Chairman of Deutsche Leasing AG 2002, Bad Homburg
• Chief Executive, BDL, 2002-2009, Berlin
