The credit crisis, credit crunch, credit squeeze, call it what
you will – and the media have come up with many names for the
current turmoil affecting world money markets, along with lurid
headlines and doom-laden comment pieces – is the defining financial
story of 2007 so far. Its initial repercussions and after-effects
are impossible to quantify thus far, not least because many of the
investment banks in the eye of the storm are refusing to say
exactly how many billions of dollars they have lost as a result of
the crunch, which started in the US sub-prime mortgage market but
quickly spread to other sectors. Yet the motor financiers that we
talked to for the credit crunch analysis article on p10 of this
month’s issue were rather more sanguine than one might have
anticipated. No doomsday scenarios here: they were, on the whole,
remarkably upbeat and even cautiously optimistic that a) the worst
has passed and b) the worst was not as bad as everyone first
imagined.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
This determinedly non-hysterical attitude was also common at
the recent Leaseurope/Eurofinas conference in Edinburgh – see p16
for more. “The end is not nigh,” said Lord Stevenson, chairman of
HBOS, who probably knows rather a lot more about the matter than
the excitable journalists breathlessly predicting the imminent
collapse of the capitalist system.
The expansion of the non-prime sector, with more and more
consumers slipping out of the prime sector as interest rate rises
and higher prices for commodities begin to bite, offers significant
opportunities for profitable business operations, provided you have
the systems and the know-how to cope. But what about the
500m-strong pan-European market? In our cover story, new
contributor Neil Kennett looks at how to approach new country
markets, and the differences between motor finance cultures across
borders. In a complementary piece, Marc Peeters and Barend van
Bergen of KPMG give an overview of the green taxation picture
across the EU, the first in a series on taxation and the
environment.
With very best wishes for the month ahead.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData
