Article Archive — Trends in Leasing
Monitor’s 2011 Executive Survey
While a Full Recovery Might Not Be In Store for 2012, Customer Relationships & Other Fundamentals Still Count
For the third year in a row, the Monitor surveyed executives from equipment leasing and finance companies of all sizes to find out the realities of doing business as the pace of economic activity, as Fed Chairman Bernanke recently noted, remains “frustratingly slow.”
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The Critical Case for Lifetime Learning
Unable to Adapt and Therefore Dispensable
Dexter Van Dango returns to this year’s Fall Conference edition with his take on surviving the ever-changing business environment. He looks beyond the fallout caused by the financial crisis and the regulatory oversight that followed. Here Van Dango speaks to industry participants directly, offering some sage advice for everyone — from Baby Boomers to Gen-Zs.
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The Waiting Game … Industry Leaders Await Economic Recovery to Spur Loan Demand
As the long-awaited economy recovery teeters along, we asked a select group of equipment leasing and finance executives to assess the state of the industry now and into 2012. These leaders continue to express the kind of optimism inherent in industry veterans who have weathered down cycles. Now with stronger portfolios and liquidity, they remain undaunted by economic uncertainties and continue to seek out — and find — opportunities.
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What Happened to the New Reality?
Has It Become Old Hat?
As the second calendar quarter came to a close, Dexter Van Dango can’t help but wonder if the old risk-monitoring pendulum hadn’t swung back past center toward the other side — the crazy side — the irrational exuberance, foolish behavior, dumb money side.
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Staying ‘In the Game’
Servicing Assistance for Small- and Mid-Size Banks
It’s an exciting time for servicers as they get more involved in global solutions for banks, lessors and captives. The industry once again is witnessing gradual consideration by small- or medium-size banks to invest capital in leasing.
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When Selling Charged-Off Equipment Leases and Loans Makes Smart Sense
Some leasing and finance executives bristle when they first hear the prices offered by a debt buyer for their charged-off accounts, or they operate off of a general notion that selling their debt just doesn’t make economic sense. What they are often missing, however, is a deeper analysis of their actual overall bad debt liquidation costs and assumptions.
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Economic Growth: Is it Truth or Mirage?
In a Monitor interview, Steve Battreall, GE Capital’s chief commercial officer, offers his candid view on a variety of issues facing the equipment finance industry. Here Battreall speaks to topics ranging from the much-discussed accounting changes to suffering equipment sectors. While much has been said that’s gloomy in nature, Battreall sees things a tad bit differently.
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Thin Margins, Aggressive Terms and Higher Asset Prices Make a Comeback
The way CapitalSource’s Laird Boulden sees it, the economic recovery story has more to do with psychology than statistical analysis. In equipment finance, while things are improving, the mood is far from celebratory. Unprecedented bank liquidity has spawned new market entrants and intense competition, resulting in thinner margins, increasingly more aggressive terms and higher asset prices. But, he, like many in the industry, are more than willing to play the hand that they have been dealt.
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Are Things Looking Up for Small Business?
Chances are good that you have heard the economy is improving. Wall Street confirms this with a steadily improving stock market — or at least a steadily improving market as of mid-February when this article was being written. Public companies are showing balance sheet strength and improving income statements, albeit — while hoarding cash and holding back on capital spending.
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Attorneys Discuss Equipment Leasing, Financing and Litigation in 2011
Although There are Growth Opportunities for Equipment Leasing, Finding an Availability of Funds Will Remain a Challenge in 2011
As 2011 brings a hopefully brighter outlook for the equipment leasing and financing sector, we asked a group of attorneys how they see the new year in terms of the state of the economy and its affect on litigation and bankruptcy as well as their predictions for the equipment leasing and financing industry as well as the banking industry. While there are signs for optimism after a number of hard years, our participants note that conservatism in lending, especially, will still reign.
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The Need to Adapt to an Ever-Changing Business Environment is Crucial to Survival
What do an ancient Greek philosopher, a philosopher from the Italian Renaissance, a nineteenth century English novelist and a contemporary American business writer have in common? For Dexter Van Dango, they all make the same point: Change or die!
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How Do You Choose to View the Glass, Half Full or Half Empty?
A Business Perspective
Oscar Wilde once wrote,
"Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!"
The Monitor’s humorist, Dexter van Dango, grapples with these opposing forces in the following article. Luckily, and for those who know Dexter, predictably, the forces of optimism prevail.
Read more... Published September 2010
While Business Investment Remains Lackluster, Leasing Industry Leaders Say It’s ‘Full Steam Ahead’
The summer of 2010 ended with a thud as August indicators ranging from housing sales to employment confirmed the economic recovery is still on tenuous ground. With economists split on whether we’re in store for a “double-dip” recession, we decided to ask a group of leasing executives how they saw the past year, and what they think is in store for 2011. What came across is that the industry continues to see the glass half full.
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New Strategies & Tools Needed in Improving Business Climate
As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Asset managers may be gaining a new appreciation for the meaning of the phrase as they try to determine how best to handle an improving business climate — a climate that presents a new set of challenges that must be effectively handled with new strategies or tools.
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Rumblings, Rumors & Other Rhetoric: Booking Deals & Managing Credit Risk
Mystery writer Dexter Van Dango returns to the pages of the Monitor … this time reporting rumblings, rumors and other rhetoric from the front line. After all, everyone needs a little relief from the day-to-day business of booking deals and managing portfolio and credit risk now and then…
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The New Leasing Industry Reality
What’s all this about “the good old days” versus “the new reality?” The Monitor’s mystery writer, Dexter Van Dango, returns to offer his view on this predicament. From where he sits, the new reality might not be so bad after all…
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Are We in the Eye of the Equipment Leasing Storm?
Dexter Van Dango is the pen name for a real senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in the equipment leasing industry. And like many people in the equipment finance industry, he wonders where everything is headed. But when it comes down to it, he’s optimistically looking for the “green shoots.”
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Impact of the Liquidity Drought on the Equipment Leasing & Finance Industry
The financial services sector of the economy has been in turmoil, yet many in leasing leadership roles have experienced a “frog-in-the-kettle” syndrome. Industry veteran David Wiener, a self-described layman economist offers his armchair perspective on the U.S. financial system — and the resulting systemic impact on the entire equipment leasing & finance industry.
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Today’s CFOs: Rising Stars in Recessionary Times
Eventually when the textbooks are written about this current recession there will be a lot of chapters that feature the winners and losers. There will be the ones led by smart CFOs, who broke the code and advanced smart financing solutions, including leasing options to acquire technology during the recession. These decisions today would be seen as pivotal in positioning their companies for growth during the inevitable rebound in the global marketplace.
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From IPO to Bank Holding Company: Marlin Leasing Scrambles to Survive
The Marlin Leasing story details how an independent leasing company was squeezed by the ravages of a worsening economy and the evaporation of the capital markets. And after achieving bank holding company status, Marlin now finds itself heavily dependent on bank regulators and the TALF program for its future funding and, in fact, its very survival.
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2009 Outlook Survey of What Manufacturing Chiefs Expect
The results of the 11th annual survey of mid-size and large U.S. manufacturing company CFOs commissioned by Bank of America Business Capital are explored in this article. The survey was conducted during a period of deteriorating health of the U.S. economy (mid-August through mid-October 2008). As a result, responses trended downward during the timeframe the survey was conducted
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The Leasing Continuum
Seasoned Leasing & Financing Executives Reflect on the Industry’s Evolution, Speculate on Things to Come
What better way to pay homage to the Monitor than to honor the industry and the visionaries who built it? To commemorate the Monitor’s 35 years of publication, we spoke with four veteran leasing and finance executives, each of whom witnessed the extraordinary growth of the equipment leasing industry.
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How Do We Prepare for Another Potential Economic Perfect Storm?
In these times of economic turmoil, it helps to take a look back to figure out how to deal with the present and prepare for the future. The Alta Group’s John Deane examines the processes of the past — what worked, what didn’t and how we managed through the last Perfect Storm — to try to steer the industry on the right course.
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The Future of the Equipment Finance Business
A candy man can’t make his wares without ingredients. In the same way, a lender in the equipment finance business can’t close deals without its own form of “sugar.” The industry can’t go sugar-free, and the ingredients must be tested and measured against best practices, then packaged for its end-users’ varied tastes, because the competition will be tougher than ever.
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Leasing Company Leaders Discuss What Lies at the End of the Economic Downturn
In the darkness of today’s increasingly complex and intractable economic downturn, leasing and finance industry leaders share their insight on why it’s easy to be pessimistic — but so critically important to be optimistic.
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Alternative Funding Strategies in Light of Vanishing Credit Markets
After he spoke at the ELFA-IMN investor conference, the Monitor sat down with Rick Wolfert of Aquiline Capital Partners in New York, a private equity firm with $1.1 billion in capital commitments. Although he emphasizes the dislocation of the credit markets, Wolfert remains positive, saying that opportunities are just as attractive as they always were for companies with capital and liquidity.
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Industry Leaders Brace for a One-Two Punch: Issuers Must Consider New ‘What-If’ Scenarios
At the recent ELFA-IMN investor conference, many leasing and finance industry professionals talked about the market’s current status while those now operating on the investor side noted they’ve never seen anything like what the industry is now facing. All that anyone can do is consider new scenarios as they present themselves.
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Equipment Finance Industry Economic Outlook: Any Type of Recession May Be Short Lived
At this point, the question of whether we are in a recession yet is really just a matter of semantics. Not only has the economic news been negative month after month for some time, but new data from the leasing industry shows that payment delinquencies are now accelerating. There are some bright spots, however, as well as some reason to believe that the recession may be short lived.
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Independent Lessors Face Tougher Market Conditions in 2008
In a speech on June 7, 1966, Robert F. Kennedy said, “There is a Chinese curse, which says, ‘May he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not, we live in interesting times...”
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Recent Market Correction Could ‘Shake Out’ Irrational Competition, Industry Leaders Say
With a long-expected market correction underway, tighter credit and vanishing liquidity are pressuring consumers and borrowers throughout the economy. But are these challenges necessarily a bad thing for leasing companies? A variety of leaders in the equipment finance industry share their insights.
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Will Private Equity Drive the Equipment Leasing Industry’s Train of the Future?
This year’s Equipment Leasing and Finance Association Funding Conference showcased a healthy stable of equipment lenders with debt appetites across the board. The vigorous nature of the debt market begs the question of leasing’s other component: Does the equipment leasing equity market match the strength of the debt market?
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On the Verge of a Brain Drain
Managing Talent, Careers for the Future of the Leasing Industry
Though our industry is exciting and dynamic, having been around for 40 or 50 years, it is also mature. Time stops for no one — including our senior-level leasing professionals — many of whom are “baby boomers” now facing retirement or contemplating leaving the workforce. How will the industry deal with filling their shoes?
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ELFA Investor Conference 2007
Mature Management, Secured Assets & High Returns Spark Attendees’ Interest
Investors, asset finance specialists and bankers met in New York for the ELFA’s Investor Conference to assess the leasing industry’s current investment landscape. At the same time, business headlines were reporting softening economic conditions and concerns about rising mortgage defaults. Still executives generally agree that the landscape looks bright — if not red hot — as investment capital pours in.
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Who Will Be the Investment Market Survivors?
A Quick Q&A With Robert Rinek, Managing Director of Piper Jaffray’s Financial Institutions Group
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