The figures behind the establishment of some
of Ireland’s largest motor finance providers have been chosen by
Close Motor Finance (CMF) to build a presence for the lender in the
Republic, through new joint venture First Auto Finance (FAF).

FAF, which will act as CMF’s exclusive agent
in Ireland, is a subsidiary of Irish financial services business
Finance Ireland (FI).

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FI’s chairman Billy Kane was formerly
responsible for developing motor lending at Permanent TSB,
currently Ireland’s leading car finance provider.

He was also a founding director and driving
force behind motor lending at Woodchester Investments, the business
which became Ireland’s largest independent finance company before
being acquired by GE capital in 1997.

FAF’s managing director Frank Donnellan is
also an alumnus of Woodchester, having grown the company’s market
share in car finance to 30 percent during his tenure as national
sales director.

Donnellan also established Friends First
Finance’s (FFF) auto lending division in 2000, before moving to
Bank of Scotland (Ireland) (BOSI) in 2002 as joint managing
director. During his time in the role, BOSI grew to become one of
the market’s top three players.

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Also hired at FAF are Michael Sheehy, former
chief operations officer at Permanent TSB, and Frank Cronin, who
previously occupied sales leadership roles at FFF and GE Capital
Woodchester.

The installment of this team strongly suggests
that CMF is looking to build its business fast in Ireland, where
the car credit market has been starved by the departure of GE, FFF,
Lombard Ireland and BOSI in recent years.

Manufacturers too have begun to react to this
credit vacuum, with last month seeing Renault lender RCI Banque as
the latest captive funder to announce its entrance to the Irish
market.

Donnellan commented “With few major players
left in the market, the limited availability of credit to purchase
vehicles in the Republic of Ireland has been widely
publicized.  Together we are seeking to address this
shortfall”.

James Broadhead, managing director of CMF,
added that he was confident the “experience and track record” of
the new team would  “establish Close Motor Finance as a
serious player in the Republic of Ireland”.

While all new business written by the new
joint venture will be on CMF paper, FAF will be responsible for
sourcing business through the Irish dealer market, and for all
processing, credit assessment and collections activity.

For a full analysis of the Irish market, see January
2011’s edition of Motor Finance