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NEW CORPORATE ASSET FINANCE TEAM TARGETS FLEET SECTOR

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks have set up an elite and ambitious Corporate Asset Finance team with its sight firmly set on the wholesale vehicle fleet market and on helping ease the funding gap which this sector continues to endure.

Iain Corbett and Gordon Young both joined the Banks as Corporate Asset Finance Directors earlier this year from the former Fortis Lease operation and are now actively targeting the vehicle contract hire and rental markets.

Gordon Young said, “The wholesale vehicle sector continues to suffer from a lack of funding capacity with many traditional lenders taking quite conservative lending positions. As well as being a new team and keen to build our footprint in the market, we have the added advantage that Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks are in a progressive phase in this area, without legacy business weighing us down.”

The new Corporate Asset Finance team is primarily targeting larger operations and there is no requirement for companies to have an existing relationship with the Bank. The new operation is also backed by the Banks’ pledge to advance £10 billion pounds of new lending to customers by October this year. Gordon stresses however that the new team offers more than merely new funding capacity:

“We have a brief to develop a high quality lending book in this market over the next three years with relationship building at the heart of our approach. Within the team we have good fleet sector experience as well as wider experience of the general asset finance arena. This means we are well equipped to take advantage of the opportunities created by the funding challenges customers are seeing caused by changes still being played out in the UK banking market.”

“The availability of intelligent and bespoke funding options, plus a service ethos which means that a senior individual from our Credit team will always be personally involved with key customers, clearly sets us apart. We feel we have a genuine understanding of the issues facing our key prospects in the Fleet market and see it as a critical part of the decision-making process that we bring this understanding to bear in the Bank’s lending judgements. Fundamentally we believe that the public transport network in the UK is unlikely to displace cars as the primary mode of transport for most people in the foreseeable future and that’s a major reason behind our commitment to this sector.”

In addition to its work in the wholesale vehicle market, the new Corporate Asset Finance team will also help provide funding for existing and new Bank customers in other industries, financing a wide range of assets, including vehicles, general plant and machinery, manufacturing equipment, as well as offering aircraft and marine lending.

Iain Corbett and Gordon Young each have around 30 years experience in banking and for much of that time have worked in senior roles in asset finance. Most recently Iain was Head of Sales at Fortis Lease while Gordon was Head of Bank & Fleet. They have also been joined in the team by Corporate Asset Finance Director Steve Dewison, who will be covering the Birmingham and Manchester markets, as well as Associate Directors, Neil Roberts and Peter Burton, both of whom have extensive experience in wholesale vehicle funding. At Fortis, Neil was responsible for developing pan-European relationships with vehicle vendors, while Peter was a senior credit analyst, having previously worked in a similar role at Ford Credit.

Paul Shephard, divisional director for Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks Corporate and Structured Finance, added, “The launch of our Corporate Asset Finance service fully recognises the varied and more complex finance requirements of larger companies. It allows us to build on our existing relationships with corporates and to provide a service tailored to their needs.”