Financier-Led Asset Lease Model

Abstract

Nowadays, the business globalisation trend drives organisations to spread their business worldwide, which in turn generates vast asset demands. In this context, broader asset channels and higher financial capacities are required to boost the asset lease sector to meet the increasing asset demands [1, 2]. In this background, with the reliable financial sources and extensive information channels, financiers are expected to take the pivot role in integrating world-wide asset information with the help of advanced cooperative information systems [3, 4]. As reported by Leasing World [5], the mass market possesses vast asset lease demands that are unexplored by current lease industry. Different from conventional lease customers, the customers of the mass market prefer to lease assets with a limited volume for a short period. Furthermore, these requests substantially vary in terms of geographic locations, desired asset packages, bundled services, financial assistances, etc. Unfortunately, these customer requests do not match with the business of traditional asset lease industry. To cater for the asset demands of the mass market, this section presents a financier-led asset lease model and the operations of the employed virtual asset network. In this model, the financier acts as the proxy for customers to access the various assets and services of the virtual asset network. By integrating the asset information and asset related services of these companies, a virtual asset network can be established as a pool of various assets and related services. Through an open-access ‘portal’, customers can choose and design their service requests from a wide range of asset types, pick-up locations, usage periods, asset modifications, payment plans, etc. The financier is responsible for analysing and aggregating these requests, as well as seeking optimal service outsourcing solutions. Thus, this model offers customers the access to worldwide distributed assets with flexible customisation options. Different from traditional finance lease models, customers bypass the contact with asset vendors yet receive the integrated services from the financier.