T 2015 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity finds new business volume grew 6.7% in 2014 H E EQU IPM EN T FI NA NCE industry is healthy and grow-ing, according to ELFA’s 2015 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA). The report re-veals that new business volume grew 6.7% in the equipment finance industry sector in 2014, marking the fifth consecutive year of growth. The SEFA, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, covers key statistical, fi-nancial and operations information for the $903 billion equipment finance industry, based on survey responses from 100 ELFA member companies. A companion report, the 2015 Small-Ticket SEFA, focuses on small-ticket and micro-ticket equipment transac-tions among the SEFA respondents. Survey highlights: Key findings for 2014 as reported in the 2015 SEFA include: ● ● Independents saw a 17.6% increase in new business volume, while banks saw their volume grow by 7.4% and captives saw a 1.3% increase. ● ● New business volume grew 9% in the small-ticket segment and 7.9% in the middle-ticket segment, and fell 2.4% in the large-ticket segment. ● ● The top-five most-financed equip-ment types were transportation, IT and related technology services, agricultural, construction and in-dustrial/manufacturing equipment. The top five end-user industries rep-resenting the largest share of new business volume were services, ag-riculture, industrial/manufacturing, transportation and wholesale/retail. ● ● Overall, cost of funds increased slightly. Competitive pressure con-tinued to drive pre-tax spreads down in 2014 to 2.8%, its lowest level in five years. ● ● Assets under management grew 8.6%. Return on assets remained steady at a healthy 1.7%, unchanged since 2012. ● ● Net income increased 15.2%. Return on average equity decreased slightly, but remained strong at 16.6%. ● ● Overall, delinquencies remained steady. Full-year losses or charge-offs fell close to 0.0% overall. ● ● Credit approvals decreased slightly while the percentage of approved ap-plications being booked and funded remained steady. ● ● Employment levels grew moderately by 1.7%, with headcount in sales and marketing increasing and servicing declining slightly. There was a sig-nificant increase in headcount as-sociated with compliance. ● ● For the first time, the SEFA asked re-spondents about their use of electron-ic documents for funding new busi-ness volume. A total of 70% reported some use of electronic documents. The association first published the “Survey of Accounting and Business Practices”—as the survey was then known—in 1975. The 11-page report provided a snapshot look at the leas-ing and finance industry. The infor-mation was deemed so valuable that the association decided to publish it on an annual basis. Over the next four decades, a committee of member volunteers (first named the Industry Data Analysis Panel and then the Re-search Committee) helped to grow the report from a simple summary to a comprehensive statistical resource produced by PwC. ■ GET YOUR COPY CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF Participation in the SEFA is a benefit of membership in ELFA. Member-respondents receive a complimentary copy of the Survey Report, as well as confidential Individual Company Data Sheets. Others may purchase the SEFA at www. elfaonline.org/SEFA . EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 37