A round-up of the news items that have piqued the interest of Leasing Life’s print and online readers in 2017
January
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News that the leasing fraud trial of six businessmen from brokerage Total Asset, broadband provider H20 Networks and Belgian lessor KBC Lease UK, was very well read in January.
The fraud was for up to £160m, of which nearly £50m was unrecoverable.
Maxxia’s acquisition of Capex Asset Finance was also big news.
February
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By GlobalDataThe Total Asset trial news dominated the rankings again, with the verdicts and sentencing returning 15 years in prison for Total Asset director Stephen Dartnell; 12 years for George Alexander of Total Asset; 10 years for Carl Cumiskey of H2O; and seven years for Simon Mundy of KBC.
News that LDF had written £50m of business in January also did well in the online rankings.
March
Stories on an attempted takeover of Shawbrook Bank business by Pollen Street Capital and BC Partners for £825m were popular.
3StepIT appointed Jason Skidmore head of its UK operations, while news that Aldermore’s results were up 17% to £1.6bn in 2016 was also well read.
April
News that Bell Finance had been acquired by 1pm Group did well, while stories about Alec Viney’s appointment at Metro Bank and Alec Phelps’ appointment as head of IT vendor at Tower Leasing were also popular.
May
Vincent Scalzone became head of broker for Hampshire Trust Bank, while news that Mike Randall left Close Brothers Asset Finance was highly read.
Over 100 police officers raided eight properties in Manchester, UK, in connection with a suspected cross-border car leasing fraud at the end of April, which was one of May’s most read stories.
June
Jean-Michel Boyer was named UK chief executive for BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, while Adam Daniels moved from Lloyds to join Paragon to set up a wholesale funding business.
PCFG drew a £13.5m Aldermore funding facility while Aldermore announced it had obtained a 48% stake in leasing broker AFS.
July
News that Star Asset Finance had acquired Credo scored very highly in the online traffic rankings, as did the revelation that RateSetter investors were free to leave the platform without charge after it said it was carrying nearly £80m worth of debt.
August
News that Bibby Financial Services client Gelpack Excelsior had gone bust despite an €11m asset finance, invoice discounting, stock finance and foreign exchange facility from the lessor was high on the agenda. Administrators KPMG blamed “difficult trading conditions”.
September
News that Hampshire Trust Bank appointed senior staff and UK manufacturer Cartwright built its own asset finance brokerage topped the rankings.
Also popular was the story of Wyelands Bank entering into the UK SME lending market, while a Grant Thornton survey into IFRS 16 was also well read.
October
News that Tarun Mistry had resigned from Grant Thornton’s advisory team after 14 years was well read, as was the news that Ex-Shawbrook bankers Marc Sefton and Kieran McSweeney founded Aquilam Capital to supply SMEs with funding.
November
News that Shire Leasing was rumoured to be looking at investment into its business was well read in November, as was news that FirstRand Group had arranged to buy Aldermore for £1.1bn.
December
The Leasing Life conference and awards 2017 held in Amsterdam.
