To help the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association (CFLA) members benchmark their business and to provide industry leadership, PayNet Canada announced a joint initiative with the CFLA to provide Canadian equipment finance companies with customized industry performance information.

The Canadian Business Lending Index illustrates trends in commercial business lending and serves as a leading economic indicator because private businesses generally respond to changes in economic conditions more rapidly than larger public companies do, This data will help members understand their own current business volume relative to industry-wide total lending.

The CFLA Business Credit Delinquency Trends on 30 and 90 day loan delinquencies for Canadian businesses will also assist member firms in understanding delinquency trends and how they compare to current industry-wide performance.

These joint information initiatives are now available quarterly through the CFLA; members can access this economic insight on measures of new business lending and loan delinquencies at the CFLA website www.cfla-acfl.ca.

“Taken together the CFLA Business Credit Delinquency Trends and the Canadian Business Lending Index will enable the CFLA to better report on our industry and build our source for industry information. Collecting and distributing industry size and benchmarking data is a primary role for the Association,” stated David Powell, president & chief executive officer of the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association. “CFLA is constantly asked by members, large and small, for industry statistics to help members assess their market share and business performance, and this partnership will become a unique asset for our membership.”

Traditionally, commercial finance lenders have relied on limited information to help facilitate the credit granting process, which has been cited as an impediment, holding back growth of commercial lending to privately-held Canadian businesses.

“PayNet maintains the richest and largest collection of small business loans and leases proven to streamline credit investigation, accelerate credit decisioning time and increase loan approvals,” states Anthony Zambon, director, PayNet Canada. “Equipment finance is an important source of capital for small and medium sized businesses in Canada, and we are pleased to partner with the CFLA; this information will prove our ongoing commitment to help commercial lenders lower costs and grow revenues,” noted Zambon.