John Phillipou, chair of FLA to keynote at AFC Summer Conference

He will discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by the auto, equipment and asset finance industry as it responds to global, national and industry uncertainty and change.

Among the topics we’ll be addressing will be:

• The impact of Trump, tariffs and trading tensions on the industry. Are we prepared?
• The long-term implications of the Supreme Court decision on auto and asset finance (whatever the outcome).
• The challenge for challenger banks; how to increase lending to SMEs.
• The importance to the industry of the NACFB and FLA working together to enable an effective, collaborative asset finance marketplace.
• A change of executive leadership at the FLA.

The Supreme Court decision is expected in July but whatever the decision the saga will undoubtedly have a long-lasting impact on our industry. Expect investor risk tolerances to ultimately drive the change if the Court does not. We’ll be asking John what he thinks the implications are for the industry’s go-to-market strategy, on brokers and any advisory role they might play with borrowers, and on dealers in auto showrooms acting as finance brokers. We’ll also be asking him how he thinks the redress process should proceed, and what can be done to avoid the tsunami of fake claims which are jamming up the compliance processes of UK lenders.

The UK Government launched a consultation on how to increase lending to SMEs in April. The consultation responses were due in at the start of May, and the industry has already started to engage with Government to draw the conclusions. Challenger banks are likely to be a focus for UK Government plans as their market penetration among SMEs hit an all-time high of 62% last year outstripping the big four banks. We note that all is not necessarily well among the challengers (our view, not John’s!) as they seek to scale, manage capital requirements and seek to compete with the big 4 banks. We’ll be asking John about all of this including focusing on the constraints of MREL which make it hard for challengers to grow beyond £15bn total assets.

A key plank in the FLA focus this year and last has been to manage oversight of SME brokers. Arguably this is a hygiene factor – something to show to regulators and other investors in lenders who are worried about the potential read-across from auto dealers and want to know the asset finance industry has things in order. Easing the friction between brokers and lenders was never going to be easy, and progress has been bumpy. We’ll be asking John for an update on the ongoing discussions between the FLA and NACFB (Jim Higginbotham will also be there so we might need to ask him the same question). We’ll also be asking John about wider changes at the FLA as Stephen Haddrill prepares to step down, and a new director general takes his place. Perhaps John will have some news for us! It’s always nice if we can get a scoop!

Got a question for John?

Our events are made much better by the high level of engagement from our corporate members and sponsors who are never shy to ask a difficult question, or to share their opinions. If you have something you would like us to ask John or have an important point you would like to make, then please write to edwardpeck@assetfinanceconnect.com

In the meantime, if you haven’t booked your place then you should act now – places are filling up! We have a great line-up of interviews, and we also have an amazing menu of workshops you can attend. Hurry if you want to attend these – places for each are very limited.

Find out more and book your place at the AFC Summer Conference website.