The leasing industry appears to be gripped
by a shortage of staying power. In recent weeks, there has been a
flurry of departures from lessors with top jobs, from banks to
independents and captives.
While it is good for any sector to remain
fluid, for so many top players to be moving at once can only be bad
news for the industry. The departures herald the loss of years of
hard-won knowledge about firms that may prove hard to replace.
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Lindsay Town, considered by many to have been
a pillar of the leasing industry, is to retire this month after
some two decades in the industry.
Another on the way out, Karel Schellens, is due to step down from the helm of De
Lage Landen after 20 years in the post. His experience will be hard
to match and his successor, Ronald Slaats, faces tough challenges
over the months ahead.
Others have recently followed suit, including
the indomitable Alain Vervaet, who stepped down on 1 April as CEO
of ING Lease Holding after 34 years in leasing. Vervaet was
replaced by John Howland Jackson, the
former UK CEO for wholesale banking at ING.
There have been other key departures that
Leasing Life learnt about at the end of March, including
Philip Ross from Investec Asset Finance, where he was head of
vendor finance. Ross, who is also a former MD of Bank of Scotland
Equipment Finance, joined Syscap as its chief operating officer
last month.
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By GlobalDataSyscap, an IT company,
has also had its fair share of staff losses, including Sean Reed,
who recently left his role as chief operating officer at
Syscap to return to Australia with his family.
Andy Wynn, meanwhile, has taken over as
Syscap’s new CFO. Wynn is also director of business services at
AnaCap, Syscap’s private equity funder. Wynn was previously an
executive director at Lehman Brothers.
Barclays Asset & Sales Finance has been
shedding staff, including some of its most experienced, following
the decision to close business to brokers and also elements of its
small and mid-ticket arms. They will be hard to replace when the
good times return.
Meanwhile, other big hitters are moving away
from a full-time focus on leasing as they are promoted within their
organisations. Last month, Derren Sanders, the popular managing
director of HSBC Equipment Finance told his staff he was moving to
a new post at the bank. It is believed he will be working with the
bank’s senior management.
Another familiar face in equipment finance,
Patrick Jelly, CEO of the financing arm of Pitney Bowes, has also
been promoted to MD of the parent company’s UK business.
The move is a natural one as leasing is an
important part of the company’s strategy, and accounts for over 65
percent of its profits internationally. Although Jelly remains in
charge of leasing, this is restricted to the UK.
Another notable member of the leasing
industry, Mike Dix, has left the leasing industry after 29 years.
The former MD of BNP Paribas Lease Group has joined The Henderson
Group as its managing director.
With so many departures of key staff, it does
appear that the old guard of leasing is on its way out, right at
the time when experience is needed most.
For Jonathan Wren, the departure of its
managing consultant Peter Haynes from the leasing industry is even
more symbolic – his company no longer has leasing recruitment
capacity. Let’s hope this is not an omen for the whole
industry.
It is pure coincidence two of the stalwarts of
the European leasing industry, Alain Vervaet and Karel Schellens,
should be retiring within months of each other. Both have reached a
certain age. And both are leaving their businesses in good shape,
handing over to successors from within their own groups.
What interests industry watchers is that while
Karel is being succeeded by a leasing veteran, Alain is to be
succeeded by a seasoned banker with little experience of the
leasing industry. How will each approach his job? Will each see
different solutions to the challenges that face our industry? Only
time will tell.
Malcolm Ogle, EMEA chairman of The Alta
Group
