In the spotlight: Barclays Corporate eyes significant growth

Challenging economic climate

The move saw Barclays Corporate replace Royal Bank of Scotland, which had funded Ogilvie Group for 12 years.

It also underlined Barclays’s desire to develop existing relationships and win prospective clients.
The Ogilvie deal was quickly followed by a deal with one of the FN50’s rising stars.

Zenith signed an introducer agreement, which sees it provide access to vehicles and fleet management services to businesses that secure fleet funding through Barclays.

However, while Barclays will offer fleet management via Zenith to those clients, it is not a prerequisite of the asset funding contract.

Barclays does not rule out establishing similar introducer deals with other leasing companies, as well as increasing its wholesale funding support.

Project Merlin

Bank lending has been at the centre of Government intervention, with ministers striking a deal to ensure increased funds under the banner of Project Merlin.

The four big banks – Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Lloyds – together with Spain’s Banco Santander need to show “a capacity and willingness to lend” by making borrowing facilities of £190 billion available to businesses in 2011.

Of that, £76bn would be specifically targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Quarterly figures from the Bank of England reveal that in the first three quarters of 2011 £157.4bn was made available, of which £56.1bn was for small businesses.

Riddleston concludes: “Economic conditions will remain challenging in 2012, but transport and logistics is a core sector for the economy and we want to continue to support our existing customers and prospective clients by providing a suite of products that will enhance our relationship and develop their business for the short, medium and long term.”

Asset finance: how does it work?

Paying cash for capital assets such as cars and vans can be a significant drain on a company’s working capital.

Asset finance is an option to improve cashflow through making regular payments over an agreed period of time.

Asset Finance is the third most common source of finance for businesses, after bank overdrafts and loans. The two main forms are leasing finance and wholesale funding.

Leasing finance is a solution for companies wishing to purchase outright business assets such as cars and vans.

The fleet pays an initial deposit, with the remainder of the balance and interest paid to the funder over a period of time. The asset (car/van) provides the security.

On completion, ownership of the car/van transfers to the customer. This is the type of relationship that Barclays wants to grow with end-user fleets.

Under wholesale funding, a leasing company buys and owns the asset (ie. car/van) using asset finance funds. A fleet then hires the car or van, paying rental over a fixed period.

This describes Barclays’ relationships with the likes of Ogilvie.

• Click here for more fleet management profiles