Global Leasing Report 2020 shows state of leasing worldwide

The global leasing industry has expanded by 131% in the past nine years, powered by Asia, North America and Europe, which make up 95% of the world’s total leasing volume. So says the annual Global Leasing Report 2020. This year’s report shows how the last nine years of growth have shaped the global leasing market for both automotive and equipment sectors.

Leading the way are the US and China, the two countries with the largest impact overall with annual sales volume of $682.82 billion, which outstrips that of all the other measured countries in the report combined.

Smaller regions, such as Africa, have shown a steady decline in growth, the report reveals, while Europe also reported a decline in growth of 0.3% in 2018 when expressed in US dollars.

However, in Europe, total new business amounted to $427bn which meant it maintained its position as the second largest region in the world, and accounts for 33.2% of total world volume.

The leading five European countries were UK, Germany, France, Italy and Poland, and all featured in the world’s top 10 countries for new business, contributing 64% of the total European volume. Sweden dropped out of the top five.

The UK and Germany were positioned as the third and fourth largest leasing markets in the world and remained the dominant players in Europe. They accounted for 39% of the European market and 13% of the world market in 2018 between them.

In 2018, the UK industry captured $92.2bn of new business, registering a growth rate of 5.3% (in local currency) as compared with the previous year, positioning it in third place in the global rankings after the US and China.

The second largest European leasing market was Germany which registered growth of 2.4% in 2018 in local currency in comparison to 2017 with new business volume of $73.3bn.

Cars and estate vehicles (57%) and trailers & trucks (17%) were the main types of asset being leased, although a trend in 2018 was the increased demand for office equipment and IT systems which grew by 12.8%.

France remained in sixth place in the top 50 rankings, with new business volume of $52.2bn and growth of 9.8%, while Italy was ranked as the fourth largest European market with new volume at $35.9bn and growth of 5.5%.

Meanwhile, Poland moved into fifth position in European ranking with new business of $22.2bn, registering growth of 21.8%. As a result of Poland’s strong performance, Sweden slipped out of the top 10 as a result of a decline in new business of 19.6%.

Other significant domestic growth performances worth highlighting throughout the European region were: Bulgaria up by 20.2%, Netherlands by 19.7%, Portugal by 16.7%, Russia by 20.7% and Hungary by 13.3%.

Brendan Gleeson, group chief executive officer of White Clarke Group, said: “The Global Leasing Report provides an invaluable insight into how the leasing market continues to demonstrate flexibility and innovation in the face of economic challenges and new technologies.”

The report, which is available for free download, is the definitive guide to the world’s top 50 leasing markets and provides detailed analysis of country trading environments and trends in automotive and equipment finance.

The White Clarke Group Global Leasing Report features data on international leasing volume and growth by region, market penetration, GDP penetration ratios and market shares as well as a unique ranking of the top 50 leasing markets by size.

The Global Leasing Report also provides consolidated insights from the 352-page World Leasing Yearbook, which contains additional tables and figures.