The Year Ahead

WLN Feature: The Year Ahead

Equipping Business for Success in 2012
By William G. Sutton, CAE
posted: Dec 16, 2011

In 2011, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) had a very successful celebration of our 50th anniversary, which culminated in a wonderful Annual Convention in San Antonio. In 2012, our members are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, but they are also mindful of the numerous challenges we still face.

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation (ELFF) reports that we finished 2010 with the industry sized at approximately $559 billion and projects that the industry grew to $628 billion . . . read more

Lessors Show Determination to Prosper Despite Uncertainties
By John Deane, CEO, The Alta Group
posted: Nov 17, 2011

It was clear in San Antonio at the ELFA’s 50th Annual Convention last month that lessors and service providers that survived the past few years of economic turmoil are poised and determined to prosper in the near future. The mood was surprisingly upbeat among the nearly 1,000 convention attendees this year, despite the economy’s sluggish recovery.

While attendees could not ignore the overseas debt crisis, and such lingering issues from the recession as high unemployment, most executives appeared to have adopted . . . read more

Recent The Year Ahead

Year Ahead Special Feature: The New Realities in Small Business Finance
Sep 9, 2011

After the collapse of the leveraged economy in 2008 and the resulting slump in GDP since then, American small business owners are still wondering what will happen next. While uncertainty and disagreement abound with regard to which public policies are best and what is happening to our tepid recovery, lenders, brokers and borrowers of small ticket commercial equipment transactions are looking for the new rules of small business lending today. Here are some comments on this subject from a credit . . . read more

Dark Clouds and Silver Linings
Jul 13, 2011

As we enter the second half of 2011, the market continues to present mixed signals: while financing demand is up, business confidence is down. These contrasting reports illustrate how uneven the recovery is still likely to be. To find the silver lining in the current lease financing market, and make the most of the opportunities it presents, the following principles would seem to be more relevant than ever in the year ahead.

Schizophrenic Recovery
May 6, 2011

My schizophrenia about the state and direction of the economy is quite unsettling as I have never suffered too greatly from indecisiveness. Now that I am sitting at my computer with no more time on the shot clock, I realize that the same dynamics that are shaping my actions are also shaping the general economic recovery.