|
|
www.leasingnews.org Tuesday,
21, 2002 Accurate,
fair and unbiased news for the equipment Leasing Industry
Headlines---- Tyco Rises 5.8% on Optimism About Plans for CIT Unit Oracle Enters Leasing Fray with Lease Management Software Leasing Group Announces Strategic Financing Solutions with Ask Jeeves International Decision Systems Makes Major Move Johnnie Johnson, CLP, in Kuwait Readers Agree on Caruso and “The Graying of the Leasing Industry.” MonitorDaily Complaint Reaction Heritage Funding, Overland Park, Kansas Webster Agrees to Acquire Asset-Based Lending/Leasing Business Court Approves Kellstrom Industries Asset Sale LA. Secession Crucial Vote Tomorrow California home prices hit new peak in April ### Denotes Press Release U.S. leading economic indicators drop in April CBC News NEW YORK, NY - A key economic indicator in the United States slipped in April, marking its first decline since September, the Conference Board reported Monday. The private research organization said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators fell 0.4 per cent to 111.7 last month following a 0.1 per cent gain in March. Economists had been expecting April's leading indicators to show a drop of 0.1 per cent. "The signal from the indicators is that the recovery is developing quite slowly," Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, told the Associated Press. "Despite the strong growth in gross domestic product in the first quarter, the recovery in the industrial core remains weak," Goldstein said. A second straight contraction in the U.S. real money supply and falling stock prices were the main reason for the leading index's drop. Softening consumer expectations and average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance also weighed on the economic outlook. Written by CBC News Online staff Tyco Rises 5.8% on Optimism About Plans for CIT Unit Exeter, New Hampshire: Tyco International Ltd. shares rose 5.8 percent amid investor optimism that the conglomerate will complete a plan to dispose of its CIT finance unit by June 30. The shares increased $1.19 to $21.75. It gained 18 percent this week. Tyco must sell or spin off CIT to avoid a cash crunch, analysts have said. The company has detailed expected cash for the next 18 months to assure investors of its solvency. Tyco may book a gain of as much as $1.5 billion if it proceeds with an offering of CIT, and a charge of as much as $750 million if it doesn't. ``There is a big liquidity discount in the shares,'' said Mark Demos, an analyst with Fifth Third Investment Advisors, which manages about $34 billion in assets, including Tyco shares. ``There is a lot of potential upside if they dispose of CIT.'' ( Courtesy EFJ.com ) ################### ####################################### (Oracle
Enters Leasing Fray with Lease Management Software) ORACLE
LEASE MANAGEMENT REDUCES REVENUE LOSSES, CUTS OPERATIONAL COSTS
AND ENHANCES CUSTOMER RETENTION REDWOOD
SHORES, Calif., - (http://www.oracle.com/tellmemore/?1335578)
Oracle Corporation, the largest enterprise software vendor, introduced
Oracle(r) Lease Management, a new Oracle E-Business Suite application
that helps simplify and manage complex leasing agreements for the
$260 billion United States lease management business (source: the
ELA Survey of Industry Activity Report 1999-2000). By automating
the complete lease lifecycle, Oracle Lease Management can cut costs
associated with offline time and labor operations, reduce risks
from lost revenue and lease renewals, increase internal productivity,
and enhance customer relationships with improved data accuracy,
transaction speed, services and offerings. To
date, leasing information and asset contracts have been stored in
disparate legacy systems. Yet as leasing agreements between parties
become more complex, companies are over spending in an attempt to
consolidate real-time, global, lease and asset information by undergoing
extensive overhauls or upgrades. Using Oracle Lease Management,
companies can avoid costly customizations while achieving instant
access to information from their front and back office systems to
facilitate effective management of multiple agreements and relationships
between lessees, vendors, partners and investors. Companies
such as global management and IT consultant Cap Gemini, Ernst &
Young and Northern Consulting recognize the need for and value of
a lease management solution like Oracle's. "Effectively tracking
leases and asset operations is key to a company's business and bottom-line,"
said Tony Turni, of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, one of the largest
consulting firms in the world and a leading provider of project
and outsourced solutions in Financial Services and Leasing Management.
"As the only comprehensive solution on the market that also
manages contracts on an asset-based level, Oracle Lease Management
enforces best practices globally. From the beginning, Cap Gemini
Ernst & Young worked with Oracle Development and its charter
customer to develop the requirements and specifications which form
the basis for the Oracle's leasing solution." Oracle
Lease Management helps streamline operations by tracking leases
from loan origination to contract termination, including credit
approval, vendor payment, contract authoring, activation and billing.
The Oracle solution can reduce costs by combining multiple deployments
into a single instance, providing a 360-degree view of all parties
involved, and helping ensure that the appropriate data is shared
with customers and partners. "Oracle
Lease Management enables companies to actively manage multiple agreements,
parties and relationships with a lot of flexibility," said
Cameron Krueger of Northern Consulting, a provider of systems and
operations consulting to the equipment finance and leasing industry.
"We see companies benefiting greatly from this tool because
it is extremely configurable. Companies can define their own business
rules, calculations and products. In turn, lessors can grow their
portfolios and offer innovative financing products while streamlining
operations with a well integrated approach to contract management."
Turni
adds, "Oracle Lease Management enables companies to actively
manage multiple agreements, parties and relationships. In addition,
this application can help streamline a company's creation of the
various portfolio management profiles -- such as strategy, budget
amount and execution date - and allow it to anticipate more accurate
investment returns." As
the business process distinctions between traditional CRM and ERP
functions blur, applications like Oracle Lease Management enable
companies to provide better customer service by seamlessly sharing
data between the back and front offices on one database. "Oracle
Lease Management is another example of how Oracle applications are
integrated, highly-functional, and automated across the entire suite,"
said Tony Gaughan, vice president of applications development, Oracle
Corporation. "Companies that extend their CRM data into other
areas of their business will benefit by improving operational efficiencies
and increasing customer satisfaction." Oracle's
commitment to the leasing industry extends beyond the product offering
to services as well. Oracle Consulting has developed a global consulting
leasing industry practice, that will help customers implement and
configure the lease management application. About
Oracle
### ######################################################## Leasing Group Announces Strategic Financing Solutions with Ask Jeeves EMERYVILLE, Calif. & AUSTIN, Texas---- Leasing Group Inc. (LGI), the industry's leading provider of innovative vendor-based financial solutions and transaction management services, and Jeeves Solutions(sm), the enterprise software division of Ask Jeeves(R) Inc. (Nasdaq:ASKJ), today announced a new financing program designed to give businesses flexible funding options for licensing JeevesOne, Jeeves Solutions' self-service software. Administering the program for Jeeves Solutions, LGI will provide outsourced program management, administration and marketing services, and will offer a host of financing solutions to companies interested in becoming JeevesOne customers. "Using the Web to increase revenues, decrease support costs and improve customer relationships requires that companies enhance the usability of their Web sites," said Chad Rudolph, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Jeeves Solutions. "This new financing program from LGI will enable companies to immediately utilize our natural language self-service and analytics solutions to accomplish business objectives without outspending their budgets. We expect this flexible financing solution to help us further penetrate the self-service CRM market with JeevesOne." The program is designed to address the growing demand from corporate enterprises to finance their software applications. According to "The Status and Outlook for the U.S. IT Leasing Marketplace," software application leasing is expected to grow 10.7% annually. By 2003, the percentage of total software sales acquired through leasing is expected to be 5%, up from 2.7% in 1999. As Jeeves Solutions' outsourcing provider, LGI will receive the customer's credit application, document and present the order to the financing community, process the transaction and communicate the status of the transaction directly to Jeeves Solutions through LGI's proven Web Finance Portal(tm). In support of the program, LGI has established a dedicated team of finance professionals within its Austin, Texas, call center to assist Jeeves Solutions customers with all of their financing questions and funding decisions. "Jeeves Solutions is the preeminent provider of advanced Web-based self-service technology," said Clark Covert, chairman & CEO of Leasing Group. "Optimizing user efficiency on the Web by helping customers find the exact information they are looking for is a customer service solution all of us can appreciate." Covert went on to say, "Our financing experts will work directly with Jeeves Solutions customers to ensure that each client receives the high level of service they deserve and a financing solution that meets their budgetary requirements." About LGI Leasing Group Inc. (LGI), www.leasinggroup.com, is a Managed Service Provider (MSP) of innovative vendor-based financing solutions and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services. Established in 1988 to design, develop and implement competitive financing solutions for Dell Computer Corporation, the company today offers a variety of domestic and international financing solutions, outsource transaction processing and management services, and a proven, Web-based systems platform to provide vendors with lower operational costs, increased customer service levels and complete control over their entire financial product and service portfolio. Based in Austin, Texas, LGI pioneered many of today's common industry practices including authorized transactions via faxed signatures, electronic transfer of funds using EDI standards, non-recourse, small ticket leasing programs; and leases that do not require the use of delivery and acceptance documents. Backed by Conning Capital Partners and Stephens Inc., LGI has funded over $1 Billion in financial transactions since its inception and its innovative and technological leadership continues today with the expansion of its Web Financial Portal(tm). For more information about LGI, visit www.leasinggroup.com or call 1-800-608-5201. About Jeeves Solutions Jeeves Solutions is a leading provider of enterprise class question answering technology that delivers Connected Self-Service and essential customer intelligence. Through an intuitive interface that connects customers with the information, products and services they are looking for, Jeeves Solutions uses sophisticated Analytics to deliver critical, customer-driven information to corporations. This essential data enables companies worldwide to build profitable relationships with their customers, prospects and suppliers. By learning from every online customer interaction, Jeeves Solutions helps companies cost-effectively increase the quality and depth of customer interactions and leverage customer insight to guide product, sales and marketing strategies. Corporate customers including British Telecom, DaimlerChrysler, Dell, Nestle, Nike and the State of Washington use Jeeves Solutions. A division of Ask Jeeves Inc. based in Emeryville, Jeeves Solutions may be contacted at www.jeevessolutions.com or by calling 1-866-JEEVES1 About Ask Jeeves Inc. Ask Jeeves is a leading provider of natural language question answering and advanced search technologies. The company offers these technologies through two business units: Web Properties and Jeeves Solutions. Web Properties operates a top 20 media property that delivers one-to-one marketing by connecting interested users with relevant advertisers. In addition to its Web sites, which include Ask Jeeves at Ask.com and Teoma.com, Ask Jeeves also syndicates its monetized search technology to a network of affiliate partners. Ask Jeeves is based in Emeryville, Calif., with offices in New York, Boston, New Jersey, Los Angeles and London. NOTE: Ask Jeeves and Ask.com are registered trademarks of Ask Jeeves Inc. JeevesOne, Jeeves Solutions, and Teoma are service marks and trademarks of Ask Jeeves Inc. *T Jeeves Solutions Leasing Group 5858 Horton Street 11000 North MoPac Expressway Suite 350 Suite 300 Emeryville, CA 94608 Austin, TX 510/985-7400 (phone) 512/344-1200 (phone) www.jeevessolutions.com www.leasinggroup.com *T --30--sw/sa* CONTACT: Leasing Group, Austin Patrick Laughlin, 512/344-1200 www.leasinggroup.com patrick_laughlin@leasinggroup.com or Jeeves Solutions, Emeryville Michele Mehl, 510/985-7400 mmehl@jeevessolutions.com #### #################################### ################### International Decision Systems & Premier Lease and Loan Services Strengthen InfoLease Leasing Software
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., USA-International Decision Systems, Inc. (IDS) - the global leader in leasing and sales management software systems - announced today a partnership with Premier Lease and Loan Services, the leading source for insurance services and expertise in the leasing industry. Jim Meinen, IDS president and CEO, explained, "Although we've had a relationship with Premier for more than a decade, closer ties with the company - and other future business partners - will generate 'market-driven' IDS product enhancements that will make this aspect of leasing easier and more profitable than ever for our customers."
Premier developed IDS' InfoLease Insurance Interface, which automates insurance underwriting by transferring insurance information from InfoLease to Premier. Premier arranges for coverage for lessees who lack proof of insurance, whose coverage isn't current, or who prefer that the lessor provides coverage and includes it on billing statements. This arrangement guarantees insurance coverage from the point of lease inception.
"In offering a single portal to all the resources of IDS and Premier, the InfoLease Insurance Interface is a real team effort underscored by our new partnership," says Premier's Brei Abercrombie, Business Development Manager. "We will provide continued input on how customers can improve their insurance programs and generate more fee income."
Premier's large professional and customer services organizations allow lessors to completely outsource the entire insurance process, saving significantly on manpower and providing considerably better customer service.
About International Decision Systems International Decision Systems (IDS) is a global market leader in developing lease accounting, portfolio management, and wholesale/floorplan financing software and services. IDS serves over 500 independent, bank-related, captive leasing and financial services companies worldwide from offices in Basingstoke (UK), Hursley (UK), Boston (USA), Minneapolis (USA), Sydney (AUS), and Singapore.
International Decision Systems is a member of IDS Group plc companies, which is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange. IDS has approximately 500 employees and the largest software development and services teams in the industry. Their clients include many of the world's most prestigious leasing and financial services companies. For additional information about International Decision Systems and IDS Group plc, visit its Web site at www.idsgrp.com.
About Premier Premier, a division of Great American Insurance Group, is one of the 30 largest property/ casualty insurance groups in the U.S. The company offers a broad range of insurance products and outsourcing solutions to meet the needs of equipment lessors, and specializes in creative and flexible programs that provide risk management, fee income and product enhancement benefits. For more information about Premier, visit www.plls.com for more information.
# # ### ################################################ ################ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnnie Johnson, CLP, in Kuwait I was forwarded your newsletter with the line asking if anyone knew how to contact me. I am surprised that it is a "secret", since I was very careful to make sure that key people, including UAEL had my contact information. Anyway, to give you an update: As you know, in 1999 I was doing the CLP training throught UAEL. I was also doing private consulting work for selected clients. At the end of the year, I was asked by a group out of the Middle East to go to Kuwait on a consulting basis and help do the initial business set-up for a leasing and investment company to be formed there. There was a break in my schedule and I agreed to go for three months to help establish the infrastructure of the company. I was extremely interested in gaining practical first-hand experience in international leasing. I had felt for some time that the international marketplace was the most likely potential for dynamic growth in the US Leasing Industry. Well, to make a long story short, after being there a month, I was asked to stay on a more permanent basis--which I agreed to do. That was now 2 1/2 years ago. The Company I joined is The International Leasing & Investment Co. (ILIC) It was formed by a consortium of Middle East financial interests with an intial capitalization of US $50 million. One of ILIC's principal shareholders is the Islamic Development Bank (a member bank representing 53 countries--similar to the World Bank). ILIC deals in large ticket leasing transactions, with a minimum size of US$1 million and no effective upper limit (largest transaction we have worked on is just over US$400 million--and have looked at involvement in transaction as large as US$1.5 billion.) Our average transaction size is currently about US$20 million). We typically will syndicate or securitize the transactions we originate, using primarily financial institutions in Kuwait, the Middle East, and Europe. The Company is involved in transactions all over the world (including the US). ILIC does business under Islamic financial rules. Personally, it has been both an interesting and challenging experience to learn about Islamic finance--and at the same time help build a new company. Working with Islamic finance has added a new depth to my understanding of finanical transactions and structuring, and, even if I do say so myself, am becoming somewhat of a recognized expert in this area. One of the mandates of the Company is to encourage the development and use of leasing in this part of the world. Consequently, we are also involved in the spread of education, training and other information about leasing. Included in this spread is the initiation and development of new leasing companies in a number of countries in which we do business. We are currently actively involved in the start of three new companies, and are looking at 5 other countries as candidates for new companies within the next 2 years. ILIC is one of the shareholders of each these new companies, and provides the new company, through a management contract, with infrastructure development and initial management control and direction. Serving as its Executive Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer, I hold the #2 position in the company. The Chairman/CEO is a Kuwaiti national. We have a total of 8 different nationalities represented on staff, so the day to day atmosphere truly has an international flavor. The life here is also very interesting, and I have enjoyed my stay here imensely. It has fulfilled a lifelong desire to have the opportunity to be emersed in another culture, and to learn about other peoples of the world. Because of our Company's international exposure, I travel often, and, for example, have been in 11 different countries over the last 6 months. It also brings many challenges. I am very comfortable with my personal safety, and have never felt threatened here in Kuwait, nor in my travels. It is necessary to use a certain amount of discretion and common sense---but you have to do that anywhere you are. Well, have not meant this to be a travelog or life history--but since you asked, felt it might be interesting to know a little about what I have been and am doing. Please feel free to share the information, and to pass on my contact information to anyone who is interested. Be assured, that I am alive and well, and deeply emersed in the leasing industry. Johnnie W. R. Johnnie Johnson, CLP Exec. Vice President/Chief Operating Officer The International Leasing & Investment Co. P. O. Box 3716, Safat 13038, Kuwait Phone: 965-244-0368 FAX: 965-246-3190 E-Mail: johnson@ilic.net (Also now in the white pages of elessors.com. A directory of those in the leasing business. http://www.lessors.com/cgibin/webdata_ww.cgi ) Readers Agree on Caruso and “The Graying of the Leasing Industry.” The Graying of the Leasing Industry - by - Ron Caruso. Hit the nail on the head!! I could not agree more wholeheartedly with Ron’s analogy of the entire leasing industry. I was recently at an association meeting for the NVLA . The quarterly meeting was to elect new officers of the association the end result was some old officers were recycled to take on the same positions as they once had, their were no other candidates. I had a moment before leaving the dinner meeting when I looked around and realized I was the youngest person in the room , by a fair margin and I'm 47 years old. The same thought occurred to me that Ron mentioned in his article, where are the replacements. I left the leasing industry once before to pursue other career opportunities only to return several years ago, because I believe Leasing provides a viable alternative to traditional financing. However I have to admit I feel just as morose as Rons article points out and wondered where my future lies in the industry. The pattern Ron mentioned is exactly the pattern I have experienced and know form personal knowledge other associates in the business that have ultimately exited, as a result of minimal opportunities that allow for growth and stability. Their needs to be some serious though put to this issue to determine the future and viability of the leasing industry as a whole. Food for Thought. Ronald Debole leaseman6857@worldnet.att.net --- I have to agree with Ron's comments about other industries not appearing to believe the skills, knowledge, etc. that an experienced leasing person has much transfer value. Back in the recession days of the early 90's when my then consumer lending oriented employer got out of small ticket business equipment financing and closed down the group I had headed up or nearly five years, I sent my resume to numerous banks thinking my then 12 years of experience in credit, collections, documentation and general operations qualified me for something within the banking industry. I had even spent part of those early years with a Wells Fargo affiliate and had undergone formal Wells Fargo Bank corporate/commercial lending training. I had an interview with exactly one bank. Russell H. Wilder, CLP RWilder@ATEL.com --- I agree wholeheartedly with Ron Caruso's article about the "graying of the leasing industry". Well written, Ron! Teri Teri Gerson, President Executive Solutions for Leasing and Finance, Inc. 1141 Minisink Way Westfield, NJ 07090-3726 908.654.1550 Fax 908.654.1553 terigerson@exsolutions.com http://www.exsolutions.com --- I read with interest the comments by Ron Caruso regarding the "Graying of the Leasing Industry". I agree with him in that this industry is not, at this time, for the faint of heart. Over the past several years, however, we have had many "younger" entrants into the industry who came with "boiler room" telemarketing skills and sales methodology and techniques that were based on questionable ethics, at best. Nevertheless these types of companies flourished during the "high tide" days of the middle and late 90's. The problem with all of the young people that were hired into those companies is that they did not learn anything about the leasing business or even finance in general. They learned great telemarketing skills. This whole situation was proliferated by an industry that was obsessed with achieving technological efficiency and lowering costs to combat declining margins. Forget the people and leave it all to automation. The old "belt buckle to belt buckle" sales and service approach that made the industry was declared an invalid business model. As an industry we recruited plenty of young people but we never taught them anything because, with "application only to $250,000" programs, they didn't have to learn the skills that we baby boomers needed when we were brought into the fold 20-25 years ago. I see the industry coming full circle. I am reminded once again of the comments that were made by Ira Romoff at the UAEL/EAEL conference in Las Vegas in 1998 (I believe). He so aptly predicted that there would come a time when the wave of consolidation would come to an abrupt halt, the huge companies would "implode", and nearly everybody would have to remember how to actually originate transactions rather than grow through acquisition. It certainly appears to me that Ira had nailed it. In my opinion the current situation in the leasing business has created tremendous opportunity. There is still a lot of money to be made but it is harder. Not because the business is that different but because customers are smarter, more savvy and more suspicious of us than they used to be. They also have different options that weren't available to them before. As Mr. Caruso points out, there aren't as many deep pockets as there used to be but they'll be back. Just the other day, I read the story on the state of the Industry. We can expect 6.4% growth, overall, for the next couple of years. I suspect double digit growth will continue in some specialized segments of the industry. As far as the talent pool having "transferable" skills, why would a talented sales or credit analyst want to leave the industry? The poor execution by leasing industry management over the past five years has little to do with the continuing demand for equipment finance programs in the marketplace. While I agree that there is probably a percentage of those folks who are married to a paycheck, there is always that group with the entrepreneurial bent that realize they can still do what BigCo was paying them for and probably make more money at it as an independent. After all the consolidation of the late 80s and early 90s produced a few companies that have grown rather large and done extremely well. Tony Galobic and Great American immediately comes to my mind. Marlin would be another example. After this last round of consolidation and break-up I am coming to the conclusion that the equipment finance industry has so many constituencies, situations, equipment types and industries to serve that it works better for everyone when it's fragmented, a little less efficient but more personal. If one of my kids expressed the interest and desire to get into this business I would not discourage it. I would just make certain that they were equipped with a skill set that gave them the highest probability for success. If we had trained the young people of the past 5 years this way the talent pool wouldn't be so "Gray" at this time. Bob Rodi, CLP President LeaseNOW, Inc. drlease@leasenow.com www.leasenow.com 1-800-321-LEAS (5327)x 101 --- Ron Caruso, Greying of Leasing Industry, and advice for young financial careerists- It would definitely be a mistake to advise anyone to enter any specialty that relies on capital formation in the private sector. The worldwide trend is for government to soak up all of the available growth. We used to have a choice between a party who wanted to grow the government twice as fast as the general economy per year (Dem) or a party who would do their best to limit government growth to that of the general economy (GOP), but no more. Both are now colluding to grow "their business" at 15% per annum, and no one speaks up to complain. Remember the talk of ITC returning in the new tax laws? What happened to that? I advise young people to take necessary government jobs such as firefighter and police officer(shift work), then use their plentiful time off to start a small business. That way, their financial future will be assured with their generous public sector pension, and when they pay their 45% all-in tax rate as a small business owner, at least they will be getting some of it back directly. Dave McDonough, lease broker (954) 494- 0675 |