A Look Ahead

The Foundation has been Your Eye on the Future for more than 30 years. With a mission to cast a long-range view on potential challenges and future opportunities, our resources help you and your business navigate uncertain terrain and plan strategically for future growth. In this age of heightened awareness for sustainability, we explored and published a report on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) platforms that are emerging quickly. We also conducted a study on the state of Funding, Securitization & Syndication. And we are adding new reports to our Vertical Market Outlook Series on the Retail sector. Here’s a quick look at some of the forward-looking Foundation research coming later this year. 

Facing the Challenges of Inflation and Rising Interest Rates: New Strategic Considerations for the Equipment Finance Industry

The Journal of Equipment Lease Financing article provides background information on the inflation process, including the development of data monitoring tools to help finance executives better understand likely inflation and interest rate movements. This piece also includes a strategic assessment of impacts of rising inflation and rising interest rates on the equipment finance industry, including the effects on both end-user borrowers and internal industry operations. Available now at www.leasefoundation.org/industry-resources/journal-of-equipment-lease-financing/.

Captive Finance: Challenges & Opportunities

This study will isolate actions a captive finance firm can take to ensure its viability and value to its parent. Challenging economic conditions have shown there is a great degree of disparity in the success of captive financing organizations; the study will identify what makes some captives perform and others struggle through business cycles, with a unique and measurable perspective on how they compare to similar organizations. Expected release: Late Summer 2022.

Office Imaging Vertical Market Outlook Report

The latest addition to the Vertical Market Outlook series is on office imaging: copiers, printers, scanners, digital tools, cloud storage, security and environmental concerns. This report will cover the macroeconomic environment, how hybrid and remote work are affecting these products, new technology and trends, and the payment, financing and costs of these systems. Expected release: Late Summer 2022

2022 Industry Future Council

This year’s Industry Future Council (IFC) report is focused on one of the top trends from last year’s report: Workforce. Through a combination of facilitated meetings, surveys and breakout discussions, the Foundation will publish a report that describes the strategic importance of workforce issues to the industry and summarizes the IFC’s views of three primary issues that the group spotlights. Expected release: September/early October.

Specialized Apps, Software, and Information Services for Equipment Leasing & Finance Industry

This report will help lenders and lessors leverage and combine application and software services to achieve digitization, without having to re-invent the wheel themselves. Additional examples of the kinds of services that would be included are retrieval of DDA data and utility data, automated drivers’ license validation, website analysis, LGD/CECL models, F/S-based models, social media data, geo-location data and specialized data sources such as databases of franchises. While credit, risk and operations will be the primary functions addressed by the study, marketing, finance and other areas will be covered to the extent applicable. The researcher will interview technologically advanced equipment finance lenders, as well as service providers exhibiting at FinTech conferences. Expected release: Fall 2022.

Find out more about the Foundation’s latest research and support our efforts with a donation at http://www.leasefoundation.org.