Northridge Finance – the new challenger finance house

NIIB was established in Northern Ireland in 1956 and was acquired by Bank of Ireland in 1984. Northridge Finance, which sits within NIIB’s asset finance division, has been trading in Great Britain since 1999 and specializes in intermediary-introduced finance especially in the automotive, commercial and agricultural sectors.

James McGee (pictured) has been managing director of Northridge Finance and NIIB since January 2010. He told Asset Finance International: “It is in our auto finance point-of-sale business from which we see the most growth over the next five years. In Northern Ireland we have had the largest share of the motor finance marketplace for some time and, although in the rest of the UK we have a more recent presence, we are now making impressive inroads.”

Northridge is aiming for growth in the franchised and higher-quality non-franchised motor dealer sectors. “We see ourselves as a challenger finance house,” James stressed, “The latest figures from the Finance & Leasing Association show that in the 12 months to April 2015, the value of cars bought on finance through dealership totaled nearly £25.8 billion – it is a huge and expanding market and we are determined to grow with it.”

He added: “Most of that growth in finance is, of course, dominated by the captive finance companies which are doing a great job. However, there are many areas where we are adding real value and are able to act very strongly especially on used vehicles.”

Northridge Finance provides a full range of finance products with personal contract purchase currently highly favored by lender, dealer and customer because of its customer-retention and competitive-payment components.

Industry accolade

In addition Northridge Finance recently won an industry accolade for its Joint Venture offering – which is essentially a shared risk and reward partnership arrangement with the company’s supporting quality motor dealer and broker groups.

James McGee explained that Joint Venture was established in Northern Ireland almost 20 years ago and has since grown in popularity to the extent that it now accounts for just under 20% of annual new business lending across the UK for Northridge Finance.

“It is a way in which we share the profit of each transaction with the dealer in return for shared responsibility for the conduct of the account.  It is transparent and has created incremental finance penetration on the forecourt and a valuable income stream for Northridge’s partners.”

The company’s entire UK coverage rests significantly upon its supporting motor dealers and brokers with a team of 35 Field Sales regional and territory mangers. The company is proud of its speed of decision making and McGee stressed that in recent times the company has doubled its acceptance rate over the last six years by widening its risk appetite while remaining a prime lender.

Easily accessible

Part of the company’s determination to support dealers is its investment in technology. “We have made improvements in helping our customers by streamlining our vehicle delivery processes, accelerating our payment timescales and significantly reducing paperwork via the Target 365 web input system. We have also recently introduced e-Doc365 solution which is a paperless electronic process for customer agreement completion.”

He added: “Approximately 80% of proposals are now received electronically and switching to e-Doc365 will also provide a more easily accessible audit trail, which remains a vital tool in the current regulatory environment.”

McGee envisages that over the coming year up to 70% of agreements will be fulfilled via e-Doc365 and paper will therefore greatly reduce at point-of-sale. “We have found that once dealers try e-Doc365 they don’t want to revert back to wet signature paperwork. It works well as a customer-friendly compliant system.”

The company works closely with its parent, Bank of Ireland UK. The bank has been operating in Northern Ireland for over 200 years and in Great Britain for 40 years. In Ireland, Bank of Ireland is the only privately-owned Irish bank and, providing some 50% of lending to Irish businesses, is the country’s largest lender.

McGee explained that the company’s culture is one that strives to make deals happen although “we will remain selective in our quality of business”. “We have many long-term relationships with dealers,” he added, “and have big aspirations to grow our auto finance business in dealerships. We aim to grow by at least 10% per annum and significantly increase our footprint across dealerships in England and Wales – both franchised and non-franchised.”

“Northridge Finance is a player in the prime lender market,” McGee concluded, “we are determined to deliver a first class service and be an outstanding first choice lender for dealer groups. We want more of the motor dealer network to hear about our ambition, our offering and how it can improve their business.”