All articles by Fred Crawley
Fred Crawley
Asset finance brokers lose out
Broker-introduced asset finance volumes have decayed over the last year despite a general recovery in the market, says UK trade body the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB). A member survey conducted by the association claimed that £992m (1.2bn) worth of asset finance business was introduced by member brokers in the year ending 30 June 2010, compared to £997m in the previous 12 months.
Private money for new fund
A new asset finance fund drawing on money from wealthy private individuals is poised to start lending Should the scheme provide good returns to its pioneering funders, it may set a precedent for much wider involvement in leasing by private investors. Entrepreneur William Flatau has set up Asset Venture Fund as an extension of the Firstfunding.orgnetwork he started in early 2009
New recruiter 101 enters UK leasing
A new search and selection business has entered the UK asset finance market, in a fresh sign that recruitment across the industry is returning to health 101 recruitment, founded by former Lombard broker manager David Calleja-Gera, aims to work across the breadth of the commercial finance industry, with asset finance as a specialist area. To put it bluntly, things are picking up, said Calleja-Gera, commenting on his decision to start up in recruitment at the tail end of a prolonged employment freeze.
Lombard one-stop-shop ambition
UK leasing market leader Lombard is making good use of its sheer size at present, using its variety of specialist divisions to lend across multiple asset types within single customer relationships. The giant RBS subsidiary seems keen to position itself as a one stop shop for customers’ funding needs, at a time when businesses are known to be seeking multiple sources of asset finance from different specialist lenders. One recent deal saw law firm Brachers LLP furnished with £135,000 (165,000) of unspecified funding for Professional Indemnity Insurance cover, plus hire purchase of a telephone system through Lombard Technology Services, and fleet management through Lombard Vehicle Management
Azule arranges speedy finance for new cameras
Specialist media and broadcast finance broker Azule Finance has successfully arranged the finance of six ARRI Alexa cameras for rental company Movietech, just months after the launch of the cutting edge equipment One of the units has already been delivered to the company, with five more to come later in the year. Movietech was quick to praise the speed with which Azule secured funding for the cameras, allowing the company to be one of the first in the UK to receive the highly sought-after equipment.
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UK and Germany vie for lead in leasing
Annual market statistics published by the UK and German leasing associations show that the recession has left both markets in similar shape albeit with different challenges to face in recovery.
Manx funder makes new hires for UK expansion
The arrival of two new broker managers at Conister Finance and Leasing, the recently formed UK subsidiary of Conister Bank, has signaled the beginning in earnest of the Manx lenders expansion into the mainland leasing market. Neil Landsborough and Mike Hirst, who have both moved from positions at Clydesdale Asset Finance, will develop Conisters relationships with SME-focused asset finance brokers in the North West and South West regions respectively While Conister has been active as a deposit-taking bank on the Isle of Man since 1935, 2009 saw it make the decision to begin lending in the UK through asset finance, historically one of its strongest product lines
Syscap signs vendor deal with IT distributor
UK IT financeprovider Syscap has secured a position as exclusive finance provider for the reseller channel of Computer 2000, the UKs largest trade-only distributor of IT and related products. The white label financing programme will run for an initial period of three years, during which Syscap will use its Syscap Online trading platform to build a finance offering into Computer 2000s sales process. As a result, Computer 2000s resellers will be able to offer finance on over 30,000 products, including related services and maintenance, covering purchases ranging from £3,000 to £1 million and above.
Sea change as brokers drift towards asset finance
Junes NACFB Expo was a roaring success, with record numbers attending Also impressive was the number of mortgage and ID brokers looking to enter the market
CIT “smaller, safer” as profits recover
American CIT Group has posted a second quarter profit of $142.1 million (109 million), marking the equipment finance giants second consecutive quarterly profit after emerging from bankruptcy at the end of last year. In the equivalent reporting period one year ago, just four months before the group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, CIT lost $1.7 billion (1.3 billion)