GE Capital Ranked Largest Equipment Finance Company in U.S.; Bank of America Leasing Ranked Largest U.S. Bank Affiliate; Wells Fargo Equipment Finance & PNC Equipment Finance Gain From Acquisitions

    WAYNE, PA, June 18, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Monitor, a Xander Media Group publication for the equipment finance and leasing industry, said its latest Monitor 100 shows how a dramatic drop in new business originations in the fourth quarter of last year, combined with a similar trend in the first quarter of this year, is likely to erode the revenue and earnings performance of the top 100 U.S. equipment finance companies in 2009.

The report provides insights into what took place over the past six months that would indicate a discernable downward trend in new equipment financing activity that is likely to persist for the foreseeable future. Included in the report is the latest information on U.S. business investment in equipment, which shows an annual rate of decline of 34% based on the government data for the first quarter 2009.

Other highlights from the 2009 Monitor 100 include:

--- This year's Monitor 100 companies reported, in the aggregate, a record $611.6 billion of portfolio assets at year-end 2008. The report shows, however, that the continued decline in U.S. equipment investment will likely result in a combined contraction in portfolio size of these same companies at year-end 2009. Bellwethers Caterpillar Financial and Volvo Financial Services reported new equipment financing over the past six months is down 55% and 38%, respectively from the same year ago period.

--- GE Capital remains, by far, the largest equipment finance and leasing company in the U.S., with equipment related loans and leases of $184 billion, out pacing #2 ranked International Lease Finance by more than $140 billion. However, GE Capital's new business activity in 2008 dropped over 39% reflecting the results of GE's strategy to downsize the finance unit announced last year.

--- Wells Fargo's acquisition of Wachovia caused its Wells Fargo Equipment Finance unit to jump from last year's #13 ranking to this year's #4 largest equipment finance company in the U.S. PNC's acquisition of National City resulted in PNC Equipment Finance to vault from #30 in last year's survey to #14 in the most recent report.

--- A survey of portfolio quality metrics showed a much larger percentage of the top 100 finance and leasing companies experienced substantially higher net charge-offs and provision charges compared to the prior year.

Commenting on this year's results, Monitor publisher Jerry Parrotto said, "It's interesting to note that our 100 respondents in this year's survey reported a combined increase in portfolio size, yet it's clear that we are not likely to see a repeat performance in 2009. Evidence of a severe downturn in equipment investment started to show up in the last half of 2008 and, by all accounts, continued to persist during the first quarter. The reality of this trend is that run-off from payments will likely outpace new financing additions, so it's reasonable to expect that we'll see some portfolio shrinkages by the end of this year."

For more information, or to order the Monitor 100, visit https://www.monitordaily.com/md_pdf/step1.aspx

Contact: Stuart Papavassiliou
Editor
484-253-2509
[email protected]

About Xander Media Group, Inc.

Wayne, PA-based Xander Media Group is the publisher of the Monitor and ABF Journal and their companion web properties, monitordaily.com and abfjournal.com. Each has been serving its constituents in the equipment finance and leasing industry and asset-based lending industries since 1974 and 2001, respectively. The Monitor 100, launched in 1992, is the only independent publication of its kind that dimensions the U.S. equipment finance and leasing industry on an annual basis.

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