US demand for equipment finance saw a 6% fall in September to $7.7bn (5.5bn) according to statistics released by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA).
The figures, part of the Monthly Leasing and Finance Index 25, show that new business volumes for September 2013 were down year-on-year among the 25 companies surveyed.
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The index also reported a decline in credit approvals from 79.1% in August to 77.1% despite over half of respondents reporting an increase in submissions.
These figures support the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation’s monthly confidence index for October, which dropped to 54.1 from 61.3 in September.
The decline in confidence and new business clouded an improvement in the rest of the report. Delinquencies fell 1.8% from August’s figure. Write downs remained static at 0.4% and new business actually grew 20% month-on-month after the summer lull of August.
William Sutton, president of the ELFA, believed the drop in new finance deals was due to the uncertainty caused by political wrangling over the federal budget and debt ceiling.
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By GlobalDataHe said:"The equipment finance industry and our members look forward to getting past this crisis and on with the business of supporting sound growth policies that stimulate capital formation."
The September new business decline comes despite new research which predicted the US equipment finance industry would grow ahead of previous estimates to become a $827bn industry by 2013.
Leadership changes
The ELFA also announced this week the results of their board elections.
Seven new board members and a chairman were voted in at the association’s annual convention:
The incoming chairman, Adam Warner, will replace Rick Remiker and takes up his position in 2014.
The other new board members for 2014 are:
- Martha Ahlers, VP and COO, United Leasing
- Ron Arrington, global president, Vendor Finance
- Diane Croessmann, executive director – Worldwide, Lenovo Financial Services
- Brian Griffin, senior VP – Leasing, MB Financial Bank
- Miles Herman, president and COO, LEAF Commercial Capital
- Gary Kempinski, executive general manager, GE Capital Commercial Finance
- Steve Whelan, partner, Blank Rome
They will join existing board members:
- Bill Besgen, president and COO, Hitachi Capital America
- Robert Boyer, president, Susquehanna Commercial Finance
- Susan Carol, CEO, Susan Carol Associates Public Relations
- Anthony Cracchiolo, president and CEO, Vendor Services, US Bancorp Equipment Finance,
- Daniel Dyer, co-founder and CEO, Marlin Leasing
- Christopher Enbom, CEO and Chairman, Allegiant Partners
- Ed Hetherington, president, Doosan Infracore Financial Solutions
- Daniel McCabe, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, US and Canada, John Deere Financial
- John McQueen, president, Wells Fargo Equipment Finance
- David T. Schaefer, CEO, Mintaka Financial
- Larry A. Smilie, managing director, Banc of America Leasing
- Scott Thacker, CEO, Ivory Consulting Corporation
- Dave Gilmore, John Deere Financial
