Published on 08 August 2008

New business written in the small ticket segment has risen by 22 percent year-on-year, with overall new business increase falling slightly short of this figure.

The reason for this lower growth average, according to CEO Chris Stamper, can be found in the middle ticket segment.

"Whereas middle ticket business for the year so far is at 218 percent of budget, it's less than we did in 2007 due to some huge deals in the middle ticket sector last year," said Stamper.

Much of ING Lease UK's middle ticket market comprises other financial institutions. For these companies, explained Stamper, significantly raised margins have made the sort of deals made in 2007 look less appealing.

Nevertheless, despite this, new business levels and profits have remained comfortably ahead of budget at ING, according to Stamper. Meanwhile, very little has been changed in terms of staffing or company strategy. Most noteworthy in terms of staffing at ING has been the deployment of six commercial mortgage specialists, who have written some of the company's most profitable recent business. ING's IT systems have also been upgraded.

"We continue to use CHP's ALFA software, and we're very happy with it," said Stamper. "However, we have spent some time enhancing the automated proposal and acceptance system."

Stamper also mentioned recent redesign work on ING Lease's UK website which, he said, reflects ING's approach to acquiring new business.

Fred Crawley

This article was printed in Leasing Life issue 181 on 8 October 2008 and reproduced by permission of the publisher.