The Leasing Foundation has been established to support the development of the leasing and asset finance industry.

The foundation, an initiative of CHP Consulting's chief operating officer Andrew Denton and IAA Advisory's chairman Derek Soper, will be advised by a board of Governors from across the Industry, and will focus on activities that benefit the leasing and asset finance industry across Europe.

Denton and Soper will be joined as directors of the foundation by Professor Peter Thomas, visiting Professor at Brunel University, Visiting Fellow at the University of Melbourne and director of the Manifesto Group, and Tarun Mistry, partner and head of Grant Thornton UK LLP's Leasing & Consumer Finance advisory practice.

Soper said: "We know that there is a tremendous amount of charitable and philanthropic activity from people in our industry, and we wanted to set up a vehicle to support that.

“The foundation will help us to do that by connecting those people in leasing and asset finance to a range of great causes and bring some real recognition to the way the industry gives back - and will help us identify what else we can do to help.”

Denton added: "We are keen to use the Leasing Foundation to bring people together to create value for the whole industry and that's why we are creating a range of activities, including the Leasing Foundation Annual Report - a research-based publication that will take a serious look at the big issues we are faced with.

“One of the key roles of our governors - the most influential voices in our industry - will be to advise us on the issues we should focus on, and make sure we understand and communicate them effectively.”