The 50 Most Powerful People in UK Car Finance
This autumn, Motor Finance asked each of you, the readership, to name the top 10 individuals who could affect change, for good or ill, in the industry. We’ve counted your answers and drawn up a top 50. Richard Brown and Jonathan Minter survey the results
50 – 41
The list opens with a selection of those who deliver specialist or adjacent services to the industry, such as technology and remarketing, and those involved in specialist work within some of the biggest names in brokering and non-prime finance, and, as
such, a taste of those names to come.
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Jon Boston, PR consultant, Jon J Boston Associates
Professor Peter Cooke, Centre for Automotive Management, University of Buckingham Business School
Graham Filmer, managing director, Rocket Marketing Associates
Tony Gannon, communications director, British Car Auctions
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By GlobalDataMark Gow, sales director, DSG Financial Services
Shamus Hodgson, sales and marketing director, Moneybarn
Merrick Layton, software manager, Oyster Bay Systems
John Lewis, chief executive, British Vehicle and Rental Leasing Association
Andrew Marsh, managing director, Marsh Finance
Chris Oakham, director, Trend Tracker
40 – 26
The next fifteen names see the only two F&I managers from dealer groups in the top 50, as well as the first representatives of the manufacturers’ captive finance providers and the funding arms of banking groups, with several international managers, rather than UK heads, appearing. Expert individuals round out the list, from lawyers to information service suppliers to those who have seen it all in car finance.
Shaun Armstrong, managing director, Creditplus
Paul Bentley, group F&I manager, Lookers; chairman, F&I Forum, Retail Motor Industry Federation
Mike Britton, sales director, Barclays Partner Finance
Vince Cable MP, Business Secretary
Roger Gewolb, subprime entrepreneur
Andy Gruber, director, Alphera Financial Services
David Johnson, group F&I manager, Perrys
Alvaro de Molina, chief executive, GMAC
Doug Moody, sales and marketing director, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services
Jakob Pfaudler, managing director, Lloyds TSB International
Lars-Henner Santelmann, board member for sales and Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Volkswagen Financial Services
Greg Standing, partner, finance litigation team, Wragge & Co
Alistair Scullion, managing director, Automotive Business, Experian
Dominique Thorman and Jean-Marc Saugier, chief executive and chairman, and VP, finance and group treasurer, RCI Banque
25 – 11
After the global managers, here come the UK bosses of some of the biggest-selling brands’ captive finance operations. Independents are well-represented also, prime and non-prime, as are the high-profile and popular heads of brokers and service providers. With new regulation and the Financial Conduct Authority looming, some in the industry have speculated the only people who really hold power now are the legislators, who start to feature prominently, as do the trade body representatives who consult with
them on behalf of the industry.
25. Steve Gowler, managing director, RCI Financial Services
Under Gowler’s leadership, the wholly-owned UK subsidiary of RCI Banque provides finance for four brands in the UK, and has taken on both electric vehicle battery leasing and insurance relationship oversight at Renault. It also introduced an online calculator for Nissan, a paperless finance system for all dealers and the Dacia brand, and is opening PCP offers to the market.
Gowler has managed all this while growing finance revenues at the company, despite the haircut given to Renault retail in the UK.
24. Stephen Sklaroff, director general, Finance & Leasing Association
Sklaroff has spent 2012 fighting hard for the maintenance of appropriate regulation governing the industry, the core principle of which surrounds government recognition of the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) as more fitting for this intermediated market than imposing the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA).
Sklaroff began the year speaking out in favour of the CCA following the findings of the Financial Services Consumer Panel and highlighting the problems inherent in the FSMA following the publishing of the Financial Services Bill.
The former civil servant who spent three years at the British Embassy in Washington and was head of communications for three secretaries of state has also led the cheer for the industry this year by announcing, in May, car finance levels had exceeded those of 2008.
Most recently, Sklaroff welcomed the industry to the annual FLA Motor Finance Convention, speaking out against the “unfounded” PPI claims plaguing car finance and put the regulatory concerns of delegates to the attending representative of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
23. Graham Haxton-Bernard, head of legal, compliance and regulatory policy, Consumer Credit Trade Association
Haxton-Bernard is a key player in shaping motor finance law and provides an “invaluable source of information” for Consumer
Credit Trade Association members, according to those who voted for him.
22. Graham Hill, director, GHA Finance
Author, blogger and regular contributor to Motor Finance, Hill created vehicle finance company Graham Hill Automotive (GHA) Finance in 1991, which he continues to run. This year, Hill released his latest book Car Finance – A Simple Guide, while his blog maintained its spot as the number one car finance blog on Google.
As readers of his work and this publication will know, Hill always has a contentious opinion and is one of the most recognisable people at industry events, if only for the argument going on around him.
21. Oliver Mackaness, director, Billing Finance
Mackaness took over from his father as director of family-run Northampton-based Billing Finance in March 2004, having trained with KPMG and been a group consolidation accountant at Pearson Plc. Established in 1983 by James Mackaness, the company now employs 22 people managing 200 deals a month, specialising in motor-home and near-prime car finance to dealers and brokers for the past five years.
2012 has seen an increase in cash available to Billing Finance, coupled with the company’s push for customer retention and Mackaness’ championing of manual underwriting.
20. Paul Brotherton, head of business support, Black Horse
Part of the new motor finance team drawn from the remains of Bank of Scotland Dealer Finance under Chris Sutton in 2009, Brotherton is responsible for delivering – and engaging stakeholders in – business strategy at the lending arm of Lloyds Banking Group
Because of its dominance of motorcycle finance, the launch of its DriveSure insurance offering, and the Subaru white label arrangement, Black Horse has had more stories written about it on motorfinanceonline.com than any other lender in 2012.
19. Mervyn King and Mark Carney, incumbent and next Governors of the Bank of England
With the change of watch announced while votes were coming in, votes have been combined for both Mervyn King, the outgoing governor who has presided over a constant base rate of 0.5% since 5 March 2009, and Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who replaces King on 1 July 2013.
18. Customers
‘Without them, we’d be nothing’ can be taken to be the consensual opinion of those who voted for the customers.
How have they been this year? If you believe the national press, they’ve been battered around by swindling dealers ready to put him on high-interest finance. If you ask the industry, they’ve been abandoned by high street lenders tightening up credit criteria.
17. Ian Smith, chief executive, BMW Financial Services
2012 has been a steady and steadily growing year for the captive responsible for BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce and one of the only two captives in the 10 top-selling motorcycle brands. News from the funder may have been quiet this year and personal contract hire may not have caught fire, as some in the industry predict it will, but should BMW acquire another marque, or secure new liquidity, expect Smith and BMW FS to be even higher in 2013.
16. Ed Paulat, chief operating officer, GMAC Financial Services
Spending half the year up for sale and competing with Santander Consumer Finance over Vauxhall prime custom, has marked GMAC with a large question mark beside it which has yet to be removed since the recent reacquisition by GM Financial. If not for that, Paulat, who heads the finance operation responsible for the second-biggest selling brand in the market, could well be higher,
picking up wholesale and retail finance deals with South Korean entrant brand SsangYong and niche UK marque MG.
With Paulat in charge of GMAC when it was sold by GM in 2006 to Ally Financial, his continued management of the financer in 2013 would provide the level of stability needed to take on the market, renewed by the backing of its manufacturer parent.
15. Joe Pattinson, marketing manager, BMW Financial Services
General manager for insurance and mobility services at the captive for the past five years and marketing manager since January, Pattinson has become the public face of the UK finance operation of one of the world’s best-known car brands. Globally, BMW FS saw total contracts managed grow by 5.4% year-onyear to 3,745,760 contracts by the end of the third quarter of 2012, with revenues of 14.58bn (£11.72bn), up 15.4% year on year, while profits dropped 15.5% to 1.29bn. At home, Pattinson has seen finance penetration hit 70% on the Mini brand and pass the industry average on BMW motorbikes, while BMW new sales have risen 7.6% year-on-year.
14. Graham Prestedge, marketing director, Santander Consumer Finance
One half of a two-man team with Vik Hill, managing director at Santander since the acquisition of First National by Abbey in 2004, Prestedge took the company’s new business volume past £1bn by 2009 including tie-ins with Fiat Group, Kia and Mazda.
Expansion since then has included a scheme with Volvo and becoming the secondbiggest lender in the market by 2011. Prestedge began the year in bullish mood, telling Motor Finance manufacturers now realised the worth and sustainability of putting marketing
money behind finance, but warning of the ‘creeping’ costs of liquidity in the industry, which would also the determine the level of competition from direct lenders.
Since then Santander Consumer Finance under Prestedge and Hill has grown in 2012 with an aggressive courting of prime finance including competing with GMAC over the Vauxhall Flexible Finance deal and beginning a joint venture with Hyundai and Kia.
13. Peter Minter, managing director, Moneybarn; chairman, motor division, Finance & Leasing Association
This year non-prime lender Moneybarn has celebrated 20 years in the industry, a name-change, and its best-ever monthly growth figures. Minter was also appointed as the new chairman of the motor finance division of the FLA earlier this year, so it’s been a prosperous 2012 for the former boss of Duncton. From his commercial and representative position, Minter has seen subprime move
“mainstream” in 2012, as Moneybarn’s Shamus Hodgson predicted it would at the end of 2011, and it now accounts for approximately a third of the UK market, according to industry experts.
12. Gary Hill, sales manager, Billing Finance
Hill has spent five years as sales manager at Billing Finance, during which it has grown from a company lending £400,000 a month, to a nationwide business lending over £1.1m a month. Hill’s contribution to this growth was cited, alongside his excellent relationship with brokers, in his nomination for the Annual Achievement Award at Frontline Solutions’ third annual F&I Conference and Awards Dinner in October.
11. Philip Ross, general manager, Honda Finance Europe; chairman, Finance & Leasing Association
Ross has spent more than 30 years in the industry, including periods at Black Horse, Toyota Finance and Porsche Finance. The past 16 years have been spent at Honda, and have been capped by his appointment in May as chairman of the FLA, taking over from Chris Sutton of Black Horse to represent finance houses at the forefront of regulatory debate.
Honda Finance has reported strong year-on-year growth, with several new deals in fleet and motorcycles. Meanwhile, Ross’s time with the FLA, like Minter’s and Sklaroff’s, has been mostly concerned with the upcoming creation of the FCA.
The top 10
Given the concerns of the year already prevalent in the list, it is no surprise to find a top 10 dominated by regulatory decision-makers, and those that lobby them, alongside representatives of the captive arms of two of the three best-selling brands in the UK and two of the largest bank-owned finance operations.
10. Richard Hoggart, managing director, DSG Financial Services
Hoggart has spent the past year balancing commitments as a partner in South African wine importer Cape Klein Wines and director
of Aquanet Communications as well as managing director of DSG Financial Services, one of the biggest brokers by volume and
value this year, which he created more than 20 years ago.
Based in Stockport, DSG brokers both prime and none-prime lending on retail and commercial vehicles, and won the Broker of the Year award at the F&I Conference and Awards Dinner.
Hoggart has also become a leading figure among car finance brokers, leading intermediaries’ support of automotive charity BEN,
speaking of the need to overcome “contempt” in the industry and stamp out “corruption” among less scrupulous brokers, and telling
Motor Finance that although they may look the same to dealers, all brokers have “different aspirations, methodologies, delivery and
ethical values”.
On top of this, Hoggart has negotiated the withdrawal of ING Lease from the sector and overseen a full merger with prestige
motor broker Bridford Financial Solutions, with which DSG had a joint venture.
9. David Andrews, managing director, Ford Credit
Although only taking over from John Coffey as head of the UK operation of Ford Credit in September, having spent two decades
working in numerous roles at the company, and despite a drop in company profits this year, Andrews is in charge of the captive finance provider to the nation’s biggest-selling brand and his history at Ford CreditEurope makes him a well-connected MD within a global finance company predicted to clear $1.6bn (£995m) pre-tax profit this year.
8. George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer
As Chancellor, Osborne could mould the motor finance sector in ways and to extents unavailable to anybody else. Osborne’s influence includes cancelling the 3p fuel duty, and superseding the National Loan Guarantee Scheme with the Funding for Lending scheme – which saw £4.4bn in funding taken up by banks in the third quarter, although their net lending only increased £496m.
Osborne holds the levers to the national economy and how he manipulates them affects what consumers and companies can afford.
7. Andy Shuter, managing director, Frontline Solutions
Over the past nine years, Shuter has overseen the growth of Frontline Solutions, the F&I systems provider, with a multitude of companies signed up to its systems and an annual conference which has developed rapidly in importance and stature within the industry, and for which Shuter has been applauded by his peers.
Aside from the successful third annual F&I conference, the company has signed deals with businesses such as Glassnet, 1st Stop Car Finance and Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance this year.
Those who voted for Shuter testified to the force and friendliness of his personality and the wealth of his connections in the industry,
which made the F&I conference a success, as well as the service provided to the sector by Frontline Solutions.
6. Vik Hill, managing director, Santander Consumer Finance
As with Graham Prestedge, Vik Hill has seen a year of rapid expansion from the retail finance arm of the Spanish bank.
Arguably the biggest story of the year is the struggle between Santander and GMAC to offer finance options for Vauxhall, which has
resulted in Vauxhall offering customers double the scope for prime finance.
Aside from this, the Santander-Hyundai partnership agreed last year has resulted in the companies launching Hyundai Capital
UK, each party owning 50% of the venture, with an opening offer range of PCP on the Velostar, Santa Fe SUV and the latest i20
model.
5. Paul Harrison, head of motor finance, Finance & Leasing Association
Harrison took up his position at the FLA in 2006, following two years as policy officer at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and
Traders, a period which now includes 19 consecutive months of growth in penetration of finance at the point of sale.
As well as lobbying to ensure the FCA is suitable for car finance, Harrison has this year helped to launch a financed vehicle recovery scheme building on the FLA’s work with AVCIS and HPI Crushwatch, campaigned over the need for vigilance against fraud in car finance, spoken out against national press criticism of dealer finance, and overseen the expansion of the SAF scheme to reach its 2,000th showroom.
Harrison is now approaching the remaining top 50 dealer groups yet to sign up, to widen SAF coverage, followed by the smaller independent retailers, and holds the distinction of being mentioned more times this calendar year than any other individual in Motor Finance magazine.
4. Graham Wheeler, managing director, Volkswagen Financial Services
Wheeler joined VWFS in 1995, becoming MD in 2004. Eight years later, the company estimates it is gaining half-a-million new contracts each year in the UK and manages a fifth of all cars in the new captive market across the eight brands it manages, with
Wheeler telling attendees at the FLA Motor Finance Convention that VW’s finance arm was now a “key part of the Group’s success”
and no longer perceived as a service supplier.
This year, VWFS has celebrated a year-on-year rise in global revenue of 15.1%, to 14.6bn (£11.8bn), and announced plans to
grow European market share from 30 to 40% by the end of 2016, while being named the 11th best workplace in the UK in the largest
employer category (500-plus staff) by the Great place to Work Institute.
Speaking at the convention, Wheeler predicted the future of finance integration would mean sales and profit integration, as operated
between larger dealer groups and captive finance companies in Germany, and the continued success of dealers reliant on “different
business models and finance models”.
3. Mark Standish, managing director, MotoNovo
Having spent the previous decade working at Wagon Finance and Capital Bank/HBOS, Mark Standish was brought in as chief executive of then-called Carlyle Finance in 1999, a position he has held since.
The company went through a rebrand in February, changing its name to MotoNovo, and has been cited by several Motor Finance
interviewees this year as the ideal model of an independent prime finance provider.
As part of its web presence, the Cardiff-based lender has introduced an online finance calculator and customer capture tool, improved customer information and retention management, dealer stock advertising and used car finance since the rebrand and appointed portfolio management firm HML as back-up servicer for the securitisation of £314m in hire purchase car loans.
As well as introducing an innovative reward system for dealer personnel, MotoNovo has recently received a substantial investment from parent company Wesbank, with the aim to drive significant expansion in 2013.
Prior to his September 2011 appointment as managing director of the Conduct Business Unit of the FSA, Wheatley’s CV included
roles as deputy chief executive at the London Stock Exchange, a seat on the Listing Authority Advisory Committee of the FSA, and the role of chairman of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission between 2005 and 2011.
The FSA has spent the year trying to restore public confidence in finance companies through fining companies and targeting “bad
practice”, while shaping the Financial Conduct Authority, of which Wheatley will become chief executive, when it is created.
Although, by press coverage, Wheatley appears more concerned with banking and his “crusade” against all incentivised sellers of finance products, he will, by 2014, set the rules by which the car finance industry operates.
1. Chris Sutton, managing director, Black Horse
Sutton has spent more than 20 years at Black Horse Motor Finance and its parent company, Lloyds TSB. He has been managing director of Black Horse since 2008 and was chairman of the FLA from May 2010 until stepping down earlier this year. In his time as
chair, Sutton oversaw the sign-up of nearly all of the UK’s top 30 dealerships to SAF and the return of 1,300 vehicles to finance houses, worth over £21m, through the FLA’s Vehicle Recovery Scheme.
Talking to Motor Finance at the start of the year, Sutton was confident car finance would survive the price war waged by personal
loan providers and negotiate commission disclosure in the same manner as the insurance and investment industries by employing best practices, and “raising our game” in dealing with consumer complaints.
He also predicted an eventual rise in interest rates and drop in subsidised manufacturer rates would give independent finance space to penetrate the market beyond their joint ventures. The company has continued to offer new deals and services with several brands, despite beginning the year with job cuts resulting from Lloyds’ “simplification” measures.
The defining story for the lender this year, however, and the subplot to regulation matters for the industry in 2012, has been the fight against PPI claims. Although mainly dealing with PPI selling on mortgages, Black Horse has won four high-profile cases in 2012, against Harrison & Harrison, McCrossan & Gould, Loughlin and a fourth with an unnamed borrower heard by Liverpool County Court.
richard.brown@timetric.com
