It is certainly clear to Virtual Lease Services (VLS) that the funding market is very much open for business.

According to Stuart Hughes, VLS’ sales director, the company has seen a large increase in enquiries from both new entrant funders and existing funders who want to expand and utilise the expertise of this well-established outsourcer.

Hughes explained: “ It has been noticeable that over the last six months VLS has been approached by a variety of new-entrant banks, new entrant- and already-trading captives and expanding funders and finance houses, all looking to utilise our expertise in collecting out and managing any type of instalment credit.”

Hughes, who has been in the asset finance industry for 20 years and sales director at VLS since October 2012 went on to say: “The UK market is changing. UK businesses want to expand and want to make themselves the best they can be, a key part of that is investment in equipment and staff”.

He added: “Financiers understand and realise that there is very much space and opportunity in the market and we have spoken to a number of players who are looking to an asset finance specialist outsourcer as a route to set up or expand. The costs associated to system, people and premises mean that without specialist companies it could be considered both difficult and a risk to set up a new operation - and this is one of the reasons we are seeing a higher level of interest in the services VLS can offer”

The last 12 months have seen the start of a number of fundamental changes within VLS all of which indicate a new corporate zest and a future platform for growth. These include: the restructuring of the executive management team which sees Louise Ikonomides, previously the company’s operations director promoted to the position of managing director.

In addition, the company announced last October that Fitch Ratings had assigned VLS the first UK Asset-Based-Securities Primary Servicer Rating of “ABPS3-”.

Standby services

Hughes told Asset Finance International that the aim of obtaining the Fitch rating is to support the company’s continued standby services offering - where it provides standby support to debt providers of lending organizations.

In November, VLS were appointed standby servicer to the recent IAF £263m SME backed securitisation, a further addition to VLS’s portfolio of standby servicing arrangements

In addition to supporting standby services, Hughes stressed that the rating also serves as evidence that VLS is very much a capable business and provides its clients with the comfort this sort of recognition delivers.

Providing standby services are one of many lines of business, these also include portfolio management services, on which the foundation of the company is built - and VLS has also noted an increase in demand for its block discounting and vendor programme services.

Block- and invoice-discounting continues to be a popular alternative to broker to funder lending and was not as greatly impacted as other more traditional funding lines  during the recent harder times , the growth in this area sees  VLS very much in demand for its auditing expertise.

VLS also runs programs for a number of leading equipment vendors and suppliers. Hughes explained that not only do vendors receive unrivalled support and service for their customer financing, but investors or lenders into the program can be confident that their investment is being professionally managed.

VLS has most recently rebranded, launching a new website in December 2013. This will allow new and existing clients to interact with the business more efficiently and provide some insight into what VLS can deliver from its product suite.

Ikonomides joined VLS as a founding shareholder in 1999 and played a key role in the company’s foundation and growth in London.

She explained: “VLS’ reputation for discreet and exceptional efficiency, combined with the fact that we are the only UK-based, asset-backed securitization servicer rated by Fitch, positions us to build upon our market position across each of our key verticals.

“With the people, technology and will to build on the success of current services, and confidence and renewed optimism in the asset-backed market, I am very excited about our growth potential moving forward.”

www.vls.uk.com