CNH CAPITAL
Steven Bierman,
president of CNH Capital, the captive arm of agricultural and
construction equipment manufacturer Case New Holland, has been
appointed as interim chief financial officer for parent CNH Global
NV. Bierman, who will retain his position at the captive, takes up
the role after the resignation of Rubin McDougal as CFO of CNH
Global. McDougal will depart on 22 June 2009. Bierman, a certified
public accountant, joined CNH in 2005 as vice-president of
commercial finance at CNH Capital. Before that he was COO and
president of Fremont Financial Corporation, and has also held
various positions at GE Capital. CNH is a majority-owned subsidiary
of Fiat, the Italian car manufacturing group.
SOCIéTé GéNéRALE
SPECIALISED FINANCIAL SERVICES
Société Générale’s Specialised
Financial Services, the group’s division that includes SG Equipment
Finance, has appointed Didier Hauguel
as its new head. Hauguel replaces Jean-François Gautier, who
retired in June. He will be in charge of the group’s five
specialised financial services businesses: insurance, consumer
credit, equipment and vendor finance, IT operational leasing and
car renting. Hauguel has been working for SG since 1984. He also
covered the posts of COO of SG Americas and was its group chief
risk officer.
ASF
The Association Française des
Société Financières, the French leasing association, has
reappointed François
Lemasson as president of the association. The
association also appointed Jérôme Brunel,
president of Sofinco-Finaref, part of the Crédit Agricole group;
Didier
Haugel, president of Franfinance and head of
specialised financial services at Société Générale; and
Philippe
Gamba, president and managing director of DIAC,
part of the Renault group, as vice-presidents of the association.
At its annual general meeting, it was also announced that
François Villeroy
de Galhau, the former managing director of Cetelem
and of BNP Paribas Personal Finance, was leaving the
association.
INVIGORS
Asset finance veteran
Stephen
Bassett and lease consultancy Invigors have joined
forces to develop Invigors Interim, a specialist interim management
business for the asset finance sector. Bassett, who currently heads
the asset finance and leasing division at the National Association
of Commercial Finance Brokers, will work at Invigors Interim with a
goal to fill the “gap” for leasing companies requiring heavyweight
management or technical staff for short periods.
Bassett said: “Current market conditions are creating all types of
short-term requirements for finance companies, from improving risk
management processes and reshaping distribution channels, to
finding new sources of finance. These require specialist skills and
Invigors Interim should be the first call these companies
make.”
Initially focused on the UK,
Invigors Interim is also looking at extending relationships in the
EU.
FLEETHIRE
Fleethire has announced the
promotion of Nick
Poole from general sales manager to the position of
sales director. Poole has been with Fleethire since the company’s
formation in 2001.
BLUECYCLE
Online vehicle auction company
Bluecycle has announced that Nick Leyland is
its new head of operations, joining from Motorlogix, where he was
commercial director. Leyland has more than 20 years’ experience in
automotive, finance, leasing and operational roles, Bluecycle said.
Meanwhile, Piers
Wilson, head of market development, has taken on additional
responsibility for sales internationally, as well as in the UK.
VW FINANCIAL
SERVICES
Several management changes have
been announced within Volkswagen Financial Services’ CEE
businesses. Radek
Cizner, corporate customers financing section
director at Skofin – the Czech vehicle leasing company specialising
in the sale of VW car brands – has accepted an offer from the
parent company to head Volkswagen Group Finanz in Russia. Cizner
will be replaced in SkoFin by Dusan Fornusek,
who has been the strategic marketing director with SkoFin since
2006. The Czech subsidiary of VW FS is one of the biggest leasing
companies in the local market, financing one in four cars on Czech
roads.
UKRTRANSLEASING
The supervisory board of
Ukrainian leasing company Ukrtransleasing has relieved Serhii Ilash of
the post of first deputy board chairman. Ilash was appointed as
deputy board chairman in 2007 and became acting board chairman at
the end of 2008. Earlier this year, the board appointed
Petro
Naumenko as the board chairman. It is understood
nobody has been appointed to replace Ilash. Ukrtransleasing was
established in 1998 as part of a Ukrainian government initiative.
It focuses on the agricultural, aviation and railway sectors.
URALSIB
LEASING
Russian lessor Uralsib Leasing
has appointed two new senior executives. The company’s board of
directors has chosen Oleg Litovkin
as the new CEO, with Elena Gushchina
taking over the post of new deputy chairman of URALSIB Leasing’s
board of directors. Uralsib chairman Andrey Donskikh said he was
confident the new appointments will allow the company to keep its
leading position in the Russian market. Last year, the lessor’s
market share reached 6.4 percent, doubling its 2007
performance.
