Analysis from John Rees, Asset Finance Connect’s head of equipment finance.
In a world where data, technology and sustainability feature more and more in customer finance, the debate regarding captive, JV or vendor partnership continues.
The equipment finance stream at the recent Asset Finance Connect Autumn 2023 Conference discussed the commercial merits of the structures in place between lenders and manufacturers to facilitate the OEM selling more products at strong margins and the finance company running a viable and profitable business.
The importance of specialist technological systems and new sustainable finance products was raised to focus on the increasing use of data for reporting in the industry, direct to customer solutions, and the adoption of usage-based models to support a more sustainable world and drive a circular economy.
The equipment finance session brought together a panel of industry experts with representatives from a captive (Karima Haji, Transformation Director – Scania UK), vendor program provider (Vincenzo Scalzone, Head of Technology, Healthcare and Green Energy – SGEF), commercial partnership (Steve Bolton, Managing Director – PEAC Solutions), and a joint venture (Paul Jennings providing his experience from 43 years at JCB Finance).
The accompanying summary and analysis of the interview can be found here.
The key issues discussed in the panel session focused on:
- Exploring the differing dynamics between captive, joint venture and vendor partnerships
- The importance of trust in each business partnership
- Adoption of usage-based asset specific solutions to enable the green transition and circular economy
- Technological challenge to increase connectivity between vendors, finance providers and customer
- Increasing use of data for reporting in the industry, but who ‘owns’ the data?
Following on from the conference discussion, we asked AFC’s head of equipment finance, John Rees, who moderated the session, to provide an analysis which can be found at https://www.assetfinanceconnect.com/webcast/how-technology-and-sustainability-are-driving-change-in-vendor-finance/
