01732 759725
BULLETIN
14
Shock win for
Joanne
“I nearly fell off my chair
when I found out I’d won!”
So says Joanne Enright,
public sector account
manager at XMA, who beat
more than 40 resellers to
win the top prize of a luxury
holiday to Bali in Brother
UK’s recent printer and
scanner promotion. Twenty
runner-up prizes included
iPad Airs, iPad minis and
£50 and £25 bonus bonds.
UTB moves into technology finance
United Trust Bank has appointed Ken Archbold to help launch a new technology
finance offering that enables companies to fund the purchase of hosted IT
services, as well as hardware, software and maintenance contracts.
Ken Archbold has more than 15 years experience in the technology arena, most recently
working on the Microsoft program for De Lage Landen, where he helped put together payment
options.
Archbold, who will work with Kevin Flowerday, United Trust Bank’s Head of Technology
Finance, said: “United Trust Bank has a fantastic pedigree in asset finance, bridging and
development finance and we intend to apply the same values and develop the same reputation
in the Technology funding marketplace.”
Free up cash locked in
software
A new asset finance product designed to
free cash locked up in software has been
launched by the technology division of
Lombard Asset Finance.
The Software Licence Solution (SLS) from
Lombard Technology Services (LTS) is aimed at
businesses that develop their own software (or
outsource development to a third party) and
own the corresponding rights.
Keith Nowland, Regional Sales Director at
LTS, said: “This innovative asset finance product
presents a real opportunity for firms to release
cash that can be used in different areas, such
as research and development or purchasing
other assets. The intellectual property is sold
to us and we then licence use of the software
back to the business for an agreed term, which
is usually three to five years.”
Businesses retain day-to-day commercial
use and ongoing development of the software.
At the end of the agreed term, they can
continue using the intellectual property via
an ongoing fee at a nominal rate, or they can
introduce a third party to buy the intellectual
property.
Added purpose
Purpose Software, the High Wycombe-
based supplier of service management
software, has expanded its software
development team with two new
appointments – Graham Waterhouse,
who has more than 20 years’ software
development experience, and Muhammad
Waseem Iqbal, who has been a software
engineer for more than four years.
Mike Burke, Managing Director of Purpose
Software, said: “We have expanded our
software team and will be creating an exciting
and visionary roadmap of new products and
enhancements that enable customers to
improve control and efficiency across their
business operations.”
Banks are changing fast
by Andy Milsom,
Head of Partner
Training and
Development,
BNP Paribas
Leasing Solutions
Since the financial crisis
of 2008, debt finance
has been difficult
to obtain for many
small and medium-
sized businesses. In
this context we need
to remind ourselves
that the banks have
traditionally been, by some way, the largest
source of such finance. The changes forced
upon banks after 2008 have therefore had
a profound effect on the whole world of
business finance.
We must start by recognising that banks are
changing fast. Firstly, they are facing ever tougher
regulation from our own Financial Conduct Authority
and international regulatory bodies; and secondly
they are facing competition from a growing number
of ‘fintechs’ who are finding it relatively easy to take
away the profitable transaction-based services from
which the banks have always generated significant
profit at little risk (e.g. foreign exchange).
Fintechs are technology-driven organisations that
deliver financial services ‘online’ and include the ‘peer
to peer’ lenders who provide a platform for those who
have money to supply those who need money, without
the involvement of the traditional bank intermediary.
Global investment in fintech businesses has grown
dramatically in the last two years, from $4 billion in
2013 to $12 billion in 2014, and will almost certainly
continue on a very steep growth curve. This has the
potential to leave only the relatively expensive and
riskier parts of banks’ business free from competition.
SMEs will find it increasingly difficult to obtain
new or extend existing bank credit lines because the
due diligence now needed for a bank to extend a
£10,000 business loan takes nearly as much time as
one for £1,000,000. Under these circumstances, it
is easy to see how banks might lose interest in the
smaller transaction and smaller customer.
Further, recommendations have been put forward
that might require banks to set aside additional
capital reserves when lending to SMEs. If this
proceeds, it will add further costs to such transactions.
On a more positive note, as the banks continue
to withdraw from a market that has traditionally
provided significant levels of finance for SMEs to
acquire business equipment, the specialist funders in
the market will grow in importance. For those resellers
who understand the financial climate in which
they operate and can move towards offering their
customers a managed service solution, the future can
be approached with real confidence.
Competition winner Joanne Enright with Steve Gray, Brother UK
business manager for major strategic accounts.
