Strong organic growth of the lease portfolio
Vendor Finance
Car leasing
Consumer Finance
sales support to producers and distributors of capital assets
through financing solutions for their clients.
In 2006, De Lage Landen's portfolio grew by 23% to
EUR 18.9 (15.4) billion. At 31 December 2006, the volume
of the consumer credit portfolio was EUR 0.7 billion. The
car lease portfolio grew by EUR 1.9 billion to EUR 2.5 (0.6)
billion. The portfolio contributed by Athlon amounted to
EUR 1.8 billion. The new consumer credit portfolio and the
Athlon portfolio together were largely responsible for the
growth of the European portfolio by 46% to EUR 11.0 (7.5)
billion. The growth of the US lease portfolio was offset by
the depreciation of the US dollar, which fell by 10%. The
volume of the US lease portfolio was EUR 7.6 (7.6) billion.
The activities in the Asia-Pacific region developed
according to expectations, showing 24% growth.
De Lage Landen offers financing solutions that meet the
needs of both vendors and their clients. Thus, Vendor
Finance operates on the interface between sellers and/or
distributors of capital assets and their clients. Its many years
of international experience in Vendor Finance make
De Lage Landen a recognised expert in this area. De Lage
Landen has a long track record in establishing and
Lease portfolio, at year-end 2006
in EUR billions
20
18
J6
J4
12
JO
_8
6
_4
0
2004 2005 2006
Asia-Pacific
America
Europe
Lease portfolio by sector,
at year-end 2006
Office equipment 20%
I Food agri 19%
Financial services 17%
I Car leasing 13%
Materials handling
construction equipment 12%
I Healthcare 8%
Technology finance 5%
Trucks trailers 3%
Other 3%
managing joint ventures with global operations and is a
leader in e-commerce applications. De Lage Landen has
in-depth knowledge of accountancy regulations and
Basel II guidelines and knows how to translate these into
new lease products for its clients and into sophisticated risk
modelling systems. For the best possible service to its
clients, De Lage Landen has a global network. In 2006,
De Lage Landen signed an agreement with Philips to grant
loans to clients of Philips Medical Systems in the Asia/
Pacific region. To Medtronic clients, De Lage Landen offers
a broad range of flexible financing solutions in a large
number of European countries. Clients with global
operations, such as Philips and Medtronic, require global,
uniform servicing. Accordingly, De Lage Landen took
further steps to standardise and globalise its business
processes and systems in 2006.
De Lage Landen's car lease activities were expanded in
2006 as a result of the acquisition of Athlon Holding N.V.
As a result, De Lage Landen gained a prominent position
in the Dutch car lease market. Since Athlon has operations
also in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France and Spain,
De Lage Landen obtained an advantageous position for
international expansion of its car lease activities. The CARe
car repair activities, which were acquired together with
Athlon, have meanwhile been sold. Late in 2006, a start was
made with the integration of Athlon Car Lease Nederland
and Translease. Annually, Heliview research agency measures
customer satisfaction among Dutch car lease users, who
make up Athlon's biggest market. Translease and Athlon
were second and fifth, respectively, on the list.
Rabobank has decided to combine all consumer credit
activities in a newly established centre of competence
within De Lage Landen. The Consumer Finance unit has
been operational since the end of 2006 and provides all
marketing, sales and operational management services in
the area of consumer credit. Besides distribution via local
Rabobanks under the Rabobank brand, Consumer Finance
will operate various different brands in other distribution
channels, including the direct channel and points of sale.
The portfolios of a large part of the local Rabobanks as well
as the Amsterdam-based Crediam consumer credit business
were acquired in that context late in 2006. The consumer
credit portfolio will show substantial further growth in the
beginning of 2007, partly as a result of the further acquisition
of portfolios of local Rabobanks.
52 Rabobank Group Annual Report 2006
