Axis Capital Group Inc Forum Equipment Leasing Trends this ..

Headquartered in Grand Island, Nebraska, Axis Capital Group has grown to become an industry leader serving equipment vendors nationwide. Halfway through 2015, we have already experienced a lot. As forecasted by the Equipment and Finance Association (ELFA), businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies have spent a great deal of money in capital goods and fixed business investment (including software) this year, financing a majority of those assets. Businesses  is still to find opportunities presented by a steadily improving economy and favorable credit conditions as they make their decisions for equipment replacement and expansion.

Let us recap and review all these forecast and see for ourselves if we have already achieved it.

1. Investment in equipment and software will reach an all-time high in 2015. As the different economy continues to improve, business investment is forecast to reach a record $1.484 trillion in 2015. As business investment grows, demand for equipment financing will increase. In developing cities such as Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia, results are now being shown but much is still being expected. 

2. Businesses will invest in equipment not just to replace aging assets, but also to aid in expansion. The pent-up replacement complaints and demand that has driven equipment investment in previous years may be supplemented by long-awaited expansion investment as capacity utilization rates in some industries reach or surpass levels historically known to spur business investment. Industries poised for investment growth include oil and gas extraction and transportation equipment manufacturing.

3. Improving market conditions will continue to increase credit supply and demand for equipment acquisitions. As the economy steadily improves and business confidence continues to increase, credit standards should modestly loosen. The rate at which businesses finance their capital spending has grown consistently and will continue to increase in 2015 with steady economic recovery and shifts in Federal Reserve policy.

4. Eyes will be on short-term interest rate increases. Expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates in 2015 should spur equipment investment as businesses seek to lock in equipment financing at lower rates. Despite rate increases, businesses will find that a highly competitive “buyer’s market” will continue to make financing an attractive option for acquiring equipment.

5.  Advances in the use of technology drives and will drive innovative financing options. Equipment finance providers are streamlining their business processes and improving customer self-service capabilities using digital technologies. At the same time, some end-users are moving away from traditional equipment consumption models and toward hosted or managed services based on usage rather than total ownership. To meet customer demand and address evolving technology equipment requirements, equipment finance companies will tailor innovative financial offerings.