VOL 13 I NO 150 I JULY 2020 FOR THE UK EQUIPMENT LEASING AND ASSET FINANCE PROFESSIONAL Shawbrook: doing the right thing Chris Richold, MD – Specialist Asset & Sector Finance, shares Shawbrook’s proactive approach CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE 10 Motor Finance News PUBLISHER LeasingWorld Ltd Oakhill House Uphampton Droitwich Spa Worcs. WR9 OJR, UK 24 Managing in the age of Covid 18 If you think training is expensive, try ignorance E: [email protected] www.leasingworld.co.uk Published by LeasingWorld Ltd NEWS REGULARS Company No: 5387699. ISSN 1749-3501 UK NEWS DATABANK Printed in England by Pensord, 4 Asset finance market falls by 60pct in May 2020 26 UK new business finance May 2020 Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, 4 Multiple lenders approved for loan schemes Blackwood NP12 2YA CITY CHATTER 5 British Business Bank appoints Interim CEO 28 Old Moore Looks Back No part of this publication may be 6 White Oak exceeds £30m in CBILS loans resold, reproduced or transmitted in 6 SMEs expect to borrow £48bn BACK IN THE OFFICE any form or by any means, electrical, 7 Close Brothers funds assets for state-of-the-art 29 Stop Press: Customer Service Excellence 2020 Awards mechanical, photocopying, recording composting facility or otherwise without the prior written EVENTS 9 Aldermore offers CBILS for invoice finance permission of the publisher. 30 Leasing Events Calendar 2020/21 LeasingWorld Ltd, Oakhill House, 9 SFS appoints Graham Leaney Uphampton, Droitwich Spa, Worcs WR9 0JR. MOVES MOTOR FINANCE NEWS 31 A roundup of who has moved where SUBSCRIPTIONS 10 MotoNovo announces CBILS Support LeasingWorld Annual subscriptions 10 Fleets can deliver a stronger economy • 12 hard copy UK Leasing World magazines 10 Back on the accelerator! FEATURES sent by surface mail – £375 Digital Upgrade CITY NEWS 14 PROFILE: Shawbrook provides the fast track to finance • 12 hard copy UK Leasing World magazines 20 New CEO at Close Brothers We asked Chris Richold to bring us up to date on sent by surface mail 20 1pm “strategically well-placed” for return to growth Shawbrook’s response to the changed and rapidly • PLUS Digital edition – £475 21 Metro Bank Plc appoints Robert Sharpe as Chairman changing asset finance market in mid-2020. DIGITAL Edition 21 Secure Trust Bank issues AGM trading update The Digital version is a Flickread powered 16 How the NACFB took its Expo online “page-turner”copy of the hardcopy publication, and the url link is sent out by 16 Half of brokers fully open for business email the day before surface mailing. The REGULARS Digital version has “live” links to advertisers’ SYSTEMS 17 Sean Williams 1965-2020 websites, surveys, and report downloads. The leasing community is mourning the loss of Sean 8 IT teams prioritising WFH Williams, who passed away on 20 June after four TO SUBSCRIBE 8 LTi helps NABCO grow years fighting cancer. Lord Parry Mitchell give us ONLINE at www.leasingworld.co.uk 8 Alfa changes corporate broker his personal response. freepages/subscribe.php or EMAIL [email protected] MOTOR FINANCE 18 If you think training is expensive, try ignorance 11 Siemens unveils UK’s first Electric Avenue How will asset finance training and education 11 LeasePlan capitalising on motor megatrend actually be happening in the summer of 2020? 11 Click & Collect is catching on ROUND THE ASSOCIATIONS 24 Managing in the age of Covid-19 and beyond Leasing World’s contributing editor Allan Foad listens 12 All the latest news and events in to Patrick Dunnes interviews on the impact of LeasingWorld LEGAL Covid-19 on the business world. 22 Front of mind by Joanne Davis 2 VOL 13 I NO 150 2020 www.leasingworld.co.uk EDITOR’S COMMENT LeasingWorld he British Bank’s Bounce Back Loans have had a big impact on the market of lending to SMEs, and we have been receiving news from T lessors of nine-figure new business volumes being reached. The big fear, widely recognised, is that many BBLS loans will not make it to repayment, leaving lenders mired in having to exhaust all other means before being able to call on the Government’s guarantee. Added to which, it is uncertain to what extent traditional remedies like forced termination or equipment repossession will be allowed, in the current spirit of forbearance. EDITORIAL Bouncing back? The financial press reports that the Treasury has started work on ways to tackle the potential debt problem, and its conclusions will feed into the Chancellor’s Autumn budget. That’s a short deadline and should be an early warning signal to our industry lobbyists to clearly communicate to the authorities the protections essential to asset finance lessors, so they don’t get left in the all too familiar lessors’ limbo. This month’s cover feature shows how one of the industry’s bigger names, Jan Szmigin Shawbrook Bank, has shifted gears to keep pace with the rate of change. Publisher “Lockdown measures hit a host of sectors very hard, very fast,” says T: +44 (0) 7803 389669 Shawbrook Bank’s Chris Richold, putting a finger on the two aspects of the E: [email protected] current crisis that have proved particularly tough to accommodate, and as Chris adds, “The structure of the loan schemes will also create a number of pinch points over the next twelve months.” In our Motor Finance section we note a general feeling that we’re through the worst of things, though some might say that it couldn’t have got any worse. The FLA’s Adrian Dally’s view is, “Touch wood, one must assume the markets are going North from here!” and June’s FLA statistics will tell us if we are indeed bouncing back. Despite lockdown easing and the first stirrings of a return to office life, Robin Skuse we’ve taken the decision to reschedule our Sky Garden Customer Service Editor Excellence event to next year, to 27 April 2021. But that does not mean T: +44 (0) 7721 727554 E: [email protected] that 2020’s service excellence stars will go unrecognised, as we are still be running the 2020 Customer Service Excellence competition this year, and inviting entries. You’ll find more details on how we’re doing it on page 29. Sadly, the leasing industry lost Sean Williams last month. Sean had a massive impact on a whole generation of young asset finance professionals, one of whom, Nathan Mollett, now Director at Metro Bank Asset Finance, recalls, “I could barely keep up with him even in my early twenties! The legend that is Sean “Curly” Williams lives on in all of those who were lucky enough to work with him.” Lord Parry Mitchell has thoughtfully penned his own memories of, and tribute to, Sean Williams on page 17. n Allan Foad Contributing Editor E: [email protected] JAN SZMIGIN [email protected] City Slicker City Chatter column E: [email protected] www.leasingworld.co.uk VOL 13 I NO 150 2020 3 UK NEWS ➔ IN BRIEF Asset finance market falls PARAGON WORKING WITH HITACHI by 60pct in May 2020 CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY igures published by the Finance & Economist at the FLA, said, “The asset Specialist SME lender Paragon is working FLeasing Association (“FLA”) show finance market reported its lowest level with excavator supplier Hitachi Construction that total asset finance new business of new business for more than 13 years Machinery (UK) Ltd (“HCM UK”) to provide (primarily leasing and hire purchase) fell in May, with the vehicle finance sectors support for UK businesses. by 60pct in May 2020 compared with the continuing to be hardest hit by the same month in 2019. lockdown restrictions. The IT equipment The companies are working in conjunction In the five months to May 2020, new finance sector was the only sector to to offer a low finance start-up scheme to business fell by 30pct compared with the report growth in the first five months assist SMEs with the purchase of Hitachi’s same period in 2019. of 2020. mini excavators. The scheme requires New business in the commercial “Our latest figures show that the no payments for the first 90 days of the vehicle finance and business new car industry provided finance for almost agreement, after which normal payments finance sectors contracted by 62pct 40pct of UK investment in machinery, will resume. and 87pct respectively, compared with equipment and purchased software in the John Phillipou, Managing Director of SME May 2019. Over the same period, the year to March 2020. Lending at Paragon, said, “It is great to be business equipment finance and plant “If this support for business investment able to work with such a reputable supplier of and machinery finance sectors reported is to continue as well as meeting the huge construction machinery in order to continue falls in new business of 40pct and 44pct demand for forbearance, the Government supporting UK SMEs. respectively. By contrast, the IT equipment needs to take action to support all finance sector reported a modest fall in lenders, including non-bank lenders, “During these uncertain times, it is key that new business of 4pct in May. by allowing them to access to funding we support businesses in any way we can Commenting on the figures, Geraldine as suggested in the FLA’s Term Funding and this scheme is a great way to allow Kilkelly, Head of Research and Chief Pipeline proposal.” customers to begin making purchases with the peace of mind of having very low initial payments.” MAF EXPANDS UK COVERAGE Multiple lenders approved for WITH NEW DIRECTOR Financial services broker Midlands loan schemes Asset Finance (“MAF”) has expanded its nvestec and Paragon Bank are among to mid-term cash flow challenges.