Equipment Leasing & Finance magazine recently caught up with Rob Ceribelli, Chair of the Small Ticket Business Council Steering Committee (BCSC). Ceribelli, President of Channel, is wrapping up his second year leading the group, which includes 17 members from financial services organizations primarily involved in transactions under $250,000, either individually or through lines. In this Q&A, Ceribelli shares a recap of his year as Chair.
From your perspective, what are the hottest topics that the Small Ticket sector is focused on this year?
We surveyed our BCSC members when we started this year and a few topics were top of mind for those in the group. The slowing economy, high inflation and increasing delinquency levels in a “post Covid” environment were chief among them. Additionally, the regulatory environment continues to be a cause for concern with disclosure legislation growing across the states and the 1071 implementation looming at the federal level. Lastly, the group wanted to stay abreast of developing technology tools to help manage activities and processes within their business (fraud detection, KYC, etc). We made the focus of our Best Practices Roundtable the application of technology to automate processing activities to offset higher labor and other costs in an inflationary environment. The topic and best practices shared seemed to really resonate with the attendees.
How did you get involved with the BCSC? Would you recommend it to others?
I joined the Small Ticket BCSC several years ago when a colleague’s term expired. After a few years of participating I was approached by Brad Peterson, the Chair at the time, about leading the group, which was an exciting and daunting opportunity. The skill and experience level across the members of the group is deep and varied and the range of company types and sizes makes for interesting discussions and insights. I really enjoy learning from the group about how they are approaching the challenges and opportunities happening within our industry.
About the BCSCs
The BCSCs represent ELFA’s five key business segments: Captive and Vendor Finance, Bank, Independent, Service Provider and Small Ticket. Learn more at www.elfaonline.org/BCSCs. Interested in joining? Contact Ed Rosen at [email protected].
