According to White Clarke Group’s 20th annual Global Leasing Report, overall global annual volumes reached the $1 trillion milestone in 2016 as leasing finally shrugged off the effects of the great recession, with growth in the industry outperforming that of the overall economy. The findings show that the global leasing industry experienced growth for the fifth consecutive year since the global economic crisis.

North America remained top of the world’s largest leasing regions – increasing its lead on Europe, and the U.S. remained the world’s largest leasing market by double-digit growth.

Europe, performed well, its two largest and most mature leasing countries, UK and Germany, continued to improve, with the UK achieving a 14% increase. The rise within both of these markets was driven in part by auto finance.

Asia showed the fastest growth of any region, as China continued its rapid rise towards top place, expanding its leasing market more than 25% in one year. Business volumes were driven by infrastructure, manufacturing and a resilient car market.

Brendan Gleeson, White Clarke CEO said, “2016 brought some significant economic and political events, namely Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. Both events have brought short-term volatility on the global foreign exchange and stock markets. It is too early to assess how these events impact upon the economies of the world and the global leasing industry in the medium term, but there may be some resulting economic instability in 2017.”

White Clarke Group is a global provider in end-to-end automotive, consumer and asset finance software solutions.