Monday, June 16, 2008
Headlines--- Gretchen Gabriel has third boy!!! ######## surrounding the article denotes it is a “press release”
----------------------------------------------------------------- Gretchen Gabriel has third boy!!!
Leasing News is proud to announce that our web graphic artist Scott Finley Gabriel, born Thursday, June 12, 10:26am, -------------------------------------------------------------- Classified Ads---Asset Management
For a full listing of all “job wanted” ads, please go to: Leasing Recruiters: To place a free “job wanted” ad here, please go to: -------------------------------------------------------------- Over 500 eMail: Tim Russert
If you are on the Leasing News mailing list, you received the news Friday afternoon on the passing of my news idol Tim Russert. He was tough on all sides in his interviews, in his quest for accuracy. After reading his books, you learned how decent a man he was, also. Leasing News had just celebrated his birthday on May 7:
Over 500 readers sent in their response to my email that he was my favorite newsman. I was so saddened by this. One of the very, very few media people really respected for their integrity. Keith D. Drayer -- Very tragic. Tim was the same age as me and we both suffered heart attacks this year. Guess I was lucky. -- So sad. My girlfriend at NBC met him at the debates where he signed his book about his dad. Odd, he is born on the same day and year I was. gary -- mine too!! he will be sadly missed!! :(( Keith Adler -- So sad. Clara -- My wife cried on reading this email from you Paul Weiss --- Mine too Never met him but I feel like I lost a teacher Brian Merrick -- Thank you so much for sending this, Kit. It's the first I've heard of it. I really liked Tim Russert. We've moved this week, and I haven't been paying attention to the news. He was a good man and way too young to leave us. --- HE CERTAINLY WAS ONE OF MY FEW FAVORITES! Dave --- He was a saint as far as I was concerned and I don’t think I ever missed Meet the Press just because of him. This is indeed tragic news. I shall pray for his family. Thanks for letting me know. Too damn young. Rosanne Wilson, CLP -- This is very sad. So sudden - reminds me of our local newscaster Pete Wilson that died several months back. Russert was in a prime, prime spot heading into this historic presidential race. He leaves behind some very large shoes to fill. Pat -- DAMN IT! I really liked that guy a lot! I see that you did too… Thanks for the notification, Kit. I would not have known 'til much later… Andrew --- What a shock…and what a loss. Peter -- Very sad. He was the real deal. How he would have enjoyed this election and it's significance. We share with you the loss of one of the GOOD news men, so needed in these times of confusion. Steve --- Kit - I loved him too. I start every Sunday with his program. Nanette S Iggulden --- Very sad to lose such a great contributing member of the human fraternity so unexpectedly at a relatively young age (when compared to my 60 years). --- Amen, and ditto. They broke the mold there, didn't they? Tom Roberts Russert Wake Will Be at St. Albans, -------------------------------------------------------------- OCC: only Nine Memoranda of Understanding in 2007
National City in trouble? Why this is an important story to the leasing industry:
Not included leasing company warehouse lines, lines of credit, management, as well as "off balance sheet leasing. Key Corp., a major bank located in Cleveland, said earlier this week it planned to raise about $1.5 billion to cover expected charges of about $1 billion after an adverse court ruling on a tax matter. (Please see stories in “News Briefs”) The leverage leases and “off balance sheet leases” National City Commercial Capital is a subsidiary of National City Corporation, and one of the Equipment Finance and Leasing Association 26 members of the MFLI-25 survey. The company purchases: *** Leasing News article on Monday questioned the condition of National City Corp. The article concerned what insiders were telling Leasing News that National City Corp., the nation’s 10th top bank was in serious trouble, and that the "Memorandum of Understanding" with the Office of Controller of Currency (OCC) regarded the banks condition. Leasing News stated, “The OCC is reportedly concerned that if the bank fails it may take five other banks with it due to their risk sharing, banking insiders are telling Leasing News.” It was also mentioned that National City Corp completed several capital offerings earlier this year. It had reported a fourth-quarter 2007 net loss of $333 million and a net loss of $171 million in the first quarter of 2008. Merger rumors have circulated around the company of late, but they abated in early May, when National City completed a $7 billion capital raise. A spokesperson for National City, who read the article, stated to contact them “…contact me as soon as possible … This issue requires immediate attention as we have serious concerns regarding inaccurate and inflammatory statements that require appropriate corrections and/or clarification.” A copy of the company press release was sent. The general issues in the press release were outlined in the SEC filings, but in a general basis as if from a text book on the responsibilities of the bank, its officers, and board of director. A specific issue for the Memoranda was not found in the actual over 145 page 10-Q on 05/12/08. It also appears from National City Chairman President and CEO Peter E. Raskind…” the MOU’s focus on issues that existed at the time of the capital raise.” In the new communication, Leasing News requested a copy of the “Memorandum of Understand.” Leasing News was told it would not be made public. A search of the OCC and Federal Reserve of Cleveland could not find the document, but in doing this homework, OCC issued only nine Mememorada of Understanding in 2007. This is then a serious matter, particularly in the OCC explaining its reasons for issuing such mememorada: While there was no information on the National City matter, The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland had this “white paper” on its role: Although a copy of the Mememorada was denied, nor specific answers to our story on Monday, May 9th, here is the response from National City Corporation, in an effort to present both sides to the story, their press release: “NATIONAL CITY ISSUES STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO MEDIA COVERAGE “CLEVELAND, Ohio, June 10, 2008 – Today, National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) Chairman, President and CEO Peter E. Raskind issued the following statement in response to recent media coverage regarding regulatory matters: “Generally, the relationship between a bank and its regulators is characterized by confidentiality. Unfortunately, however, someone has breached the confidential relationship between National City and our regulators. Given the potential concerns and misunderstandings that this breach could cause for our many stakeholders, we can confirm that National City entered into Memoranda of Understanding with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland on May 5 and April 29, 2008, respectively. These MOU’s address the issues of capital management, risk management, asset quality and liquidity management which have already been publicly disclosed and discussed, including in our most recent 10-Q filing. There have been no material developments since our capital raise, and the MOU’s focus on issues that existed at the time of the capital raise. Further, the MOU’s have no material impact on our ability to serve our customers and communities. Respecting the nature of the bank/regulator relationship and applicable legal requirements, we will not release the actual language of the MOU documents. “Following our recent $7 billion capital raise, National City has the highest Tier 1 capital ratio among large banks in the United States. Our debt ratings are solidly investment grade and stable. We stand ready to serve our customers and communities with confidence, and we are determined to rebuild value for our stockholders.” “About National City National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC), headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of the nation's largest financial holding companies. The company operates through an extensive banking network primarily in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and also serves customers in selected markets nationally. Its core businesses include commercial and retail banking, mortgage financing and servicing, consumer finance and asset management. For more information about National City, * 12/08 10Q 145 pages (see 5/12/08 10Q:) **Key Corp March 31, 2008, 10Q National City in Trouble? Key Corp. Not Alone
-------------------------------------------------------------- FIFO/SILO/Voodoo Leasing by Christopher Menkin
In February, 2005, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officially declared "sale-in, lease-back," or SILO, arrangements as tax shelters, thereby opening them up to audits. Both Congress and the IRS have been “head hunting” leasing tax shelters, stating they were costing the government $35 billion. This lead to other changes, including the accounting groups throughout the world to look at “off balance sheet” financing. Terry Winders, CLP, wrote about this in his last Leasing #102 and Shawn Halladay of the Alta Group has been following this closely, stating last year it could be as early as 2012, “no off balance sheet financing.” Paul Doyle, CPA, partner in the TABS Group Accountancy Corporation has also warned that other costs in maintaining equipment could be grouped into the balance sheet liability, instead of being expensed as “rent” is today. Perhaps some of the things to come are now being experienced by banks, most recently Key Corp. Others surely will have similar tax rulings. Smartmoney.com describes it, "Leveraged lease strategies typically include a bank borrowing money to purchase equipment or property that the bank then turns around and leases to a client. While most of the lease payments would go to the lenders who financed the purchase of the leased property, the bank would enjoy favorable tax treatments on the entire value of the leased equipment, which typically includes deducting interest payments for the property's financing, as well as accelerated depreciation write-offs.” In the Key Corp. case, “The charge is made up of approximately $475 million in interest costs on the taxes claimed on the contested leveraged leases and a $625 million to $725 million accounting adjustment based on the leases' revised cash flows. " Hitting the banks today are the money borrowed from each other in pools on subprime mortgages, loans to industries that support the building and interior of homes and commercial property, as well as Couple with inflation, and the declining value of the US dollar, this makes these tax incentives very valuable. What is worse, at a time when the manner of building profit is loosening credit to attract more business, the opposite is happening. It is perhaps best explained in the Abbott and Costello this routine: ”Abbott was trying to sell Costello a pair of shoelaces and he told him if he didn’t buy the pair of shoelaces, whether he needed them now or not (Costello said he didn’t need them), THAT Abbott WOULD not be able to have enough to pay the person who distributed the shoelaces, who sold it to him---and the guy then couldn’t afford to have lunch, so the waitress wouldn’t get her tip, the lunch business would be down at the dinner, and the Tuna boat Captain wouldn’t be able to buy his kids new shoes because he couldn’t sell the fish he caught for the tuna fish sandwich the waitress didn’t serve to the distributor Abbott couldn’t pay because Costello didn’t buy the last pair of shoe laces. I realized the Abbott and Costello comedy routine made fun of the economic ripple effect. But in a downturn, it wasn’t funny as the price of oil, mayonnaise, bread, gasoline, followed by the fall out of the construction industry, houses not selling banks tightening credit, less tax money coming in and therefore city, county, and states were cutting back, letting employees go, less services, and all of a sudden the economy is down because Costello didn’t buy a pair of shoe laces. As less profits are being generated, and costs go up, instead of down, people laid off, less taxes collected, the local government budgets will have a tough time meeting their June deadline. What appears worse is facing a “do nothing” congress and “lame duck” president who both presidential candidates appear to have criticism, brings the bad news into the beginning of 2009. If a Republican is elected, he will be expected to change things around, but with a Democratic congress, many will be disappointed. If a Democrat is elected, most businesses believe nothing good will happen, and if it does, it will be a surprise. Any major bills will also have to get through the US Senate. Perhaps another budget cutting of local, county, state, education budgets by June, 2009, will lead to term limits, which has become popular by voters in many states. What is needed is to continue the practice of leasing that was successful for financial institutions and the community, creating incentive for hiring new employees, including a training allowance, as well as bringing back the investment tax credit. You have to give business incentives, not penalize them for trying to make a profit. Mr. Terry Winders, CLP: Changes in Accounting for Leases SILO articles -------------------------------------------------------------- Beige Report: “Weak April, May”
The Federal Reserve “Beige Report” shows that consumer spending slowed both in April and May, and manufacturing not only dipped, but passed on its higher raw material and other costs.costs.. Three of the 12 regional Fed banks reported ``softer, weaker or lower'' growth and four found ``slower, sluggish or modest'' expansion. Five areas reported business was ``stable or little changed.'' Boston Full Report:
-------------------------------------------------------------- Tygris Commercial Finance Group Closes Funding Total Equity Commitments Include $290 Million of Additional Subscriptions New York, – Tygris Commercial Finance Group, Inc. (“Tygris”), a recently formed commercial finance company, is living up to its name, “tiger.” Previously they announced that its initial equity capital raise was completed with over $2 billion in equity commitments. On Friday, they announced the final stage of the offering, in which the company accepted $290 million of additional equity commitments, closed on June 6, 2008. “Raising over $2 billion in the current environment is a strong endorsement of our business plan, the market opportunity, and the management team we have assembled,” said Frederick E. “Rick” Wolfert, Chief Executive Officer of Tygris. “We now turn our efforts to the execution of our strategy, building out the company, and providing liquidity and growth capital to middle market companies throughout North America.” Here are the executives: -- Steven F. Kluger, EVP, Capital Markets and Corporate Strategy, formerly has over 26 years experience in global investments, banking, capital markets, finance, risk, operations, and asset/liability management. Most recently, Mr. Kluger was President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Capital Markets Services, Inc. (CMS) and an officer of the General Electric Company (GE). -- Stuart A. Armstrong, President of Corporate Finance, formerly President and CEO of Black Diamond Commercial Finance L.L.C. and Senior Managing Director and Head of Corporate Lending's vertical industry financing groups at GE Commercial Finance; Mr. Armstrong spent 12.5 years at GE Commercial Finance where he was a Senior Managing Director and the leader of Corporate Lending's vertical financing groups. The largest business units that Mr. Armstrong led included the National Restructuring, Retail and Metals groups. -- Laird M. Boulden, President of Asset Finance (based in Chicago), -- Tim J. Eichenlaub, EVP, Chief Risk Officer, formerly Senior Managing Director and Group Head for CIT's Sponsor Finance business; He was a Managing Director at GE Capital’s Merchant Banking Group and Commercial and Industrial Finance business and Executive Vice President and Head of Capital Markets of Heller Financial's Corporate Finance Group. -- T. Doug Hollowell, EVP, General Counsel and Head of Depository Board of Directors: Jeffrey W. Greenberg, Chairman Aquiline Capital Partners LLC Tygris has three commercial finance businesses: middle market corporate finance, middle market equipment leasing and asset finance, and small ticket leasing. Tygris has offices in Chicago, Stamford, CT and Parsippany, NJ. For more information please visit http://www.TygrisCFG.com. About Tygris Commercial Finance Group, Inc. Tygris is a commercial finance company that provides liquidity and growth capital to middle market companies throughout North America. Tygris has three commercial finance businesses: corporate finance, equipment leasing and asset finance, and small ticket leasing. Tygris has offices in Chicago, Stamford, CT and Parsippany, NJ. For more information please visit www.TygrisCFG.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Leasing Industry Help Wanted Sales Representative
Please see our Job Wanted section for possible new employees. -------------------------------------------------------------- Top Stories --June 9--June 13
Here are the top ten stories most “opened” by readers last week: (1) Archives---June 9, 2000 (2) National City in trouble? (3) CIT $3 Billion—“from near death to critical” (4) Used Car Dealer Sued/Failing to Deliver Titles (5) Leasing #102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP (6) Alert----“National Advisor” (7) Leasing Recruiters—Call today!!! (8) US Capital Help Wanted ad ("click to") (9) Dakota Financial/ Purchase Creative Portfolio (10) Texas Pacific and the Assoc. of British Insurers Extra's, not counted due to technical difficulties: CIT Survives!!! Ratings to go Up!!!! Tim Russert Dies from Apparent Heart Attack
-------------------------------------------------------------- Summer Special: 20% off Help Wanted Ads Not only 20% off, but a full month!!! You can’t miss with a Leasing News Employment ad!!!!! If the ad is an extra line, we might even throw that in---
All rates are subject to change. Ads run a minimum of 21 days on the web site ( holidays not included.) There are placed in the "Help Wanted' section by category, alphabetical, with the largest ad in the category first. Copy may be amended without any extra charge. It is also our policy to place "help wanted" ads above the news edition headlines. This position is not available as a paid position, but appear on the top of the news edition in a rotation basis. This position is not guaranteed,but is a practice to give advertisers more attention to their ad.
If you prefer a " non-employment" ad, we sell a banner ad, please If you would like more information, please contact: kitmenkin@leasingnews.org We reserve the right to refuse any advertising. Ads for employment should be placed in the classified ad section, where it is possible to also appear at the top of the headlines. No changing or alternating banner ads. Ad copy may be up-dated or changed at any time during the time period. No charge for artwork or design. To see sample size of ads, please go here. -------------------------------------------------------------- Leasing 102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP
“Targeting Your Marketing Effort” Most leasing companies waste time and expense working on transactions that do not fit their chosen parameters. By using easily available information, many lessors could make their marketing efforts more effective. A marketing plan that takes into account past performance, current resources, and goals for transaction volume, size, and creditworthiness can be used to increase the ratio of leases actually booked to lease applications. Use the Information in Your Credit Files The first step to a sound marketing plan is to realize that current capabilities and limitations will strongly influence the volume you will be able to achieve next year. You need to have a clear understanding of the relationship between transaction characteristics, break-even size, and prospecting efforts:
With this information you can focus your sales resources on deals most likely to succeed. You can decrease the amount of time spent on nonproductive business. And your projections of future volume will be more accurate because they are based on quantitative information about past results. Performance Ratios Statistics on present and past performance give you an idea of Transaction size. To determine your current average transaction size in dollars, divide the total original equipment cost by the number of transactions in the last calendar year. The leasing department described above booked 332 new transactions in 2007: the total value of the equipment leased was $10,666,000. Therefore, the average transaction size was $32,127. In 2006, the department booked $8,543,000 with 287 new accounts for an average transaction size of $29,766. Average yield. To determine the average yield of a lease, sum all interest rates and divided by the number of transactions. (Yield includes all revenues including rentals, tax advantages, and residuals). The average yield for this leasing department in 2007 was 12%. Average term. To determine the average term of a lease, sum all the months of all the leases and divide by the number of leases. For this leasing company, the average term is 48 months. To see how these numbers relate to the typical transaction, drop the top and bottom 5% from each calculation. If the averages vary by more than 10%, you probably have a large transaction or a group of small transactions that are skewing the averages and obscuring transactions that are more typical. Resources Required to Achieve Current Volume Once you have gathered information about average size, yield, and term, you should determine what marketing efforts were necessary to obtain this average transaction and consider what resources you have available to increase capacity. Some of the information you need, for example, internal costs, may be difficult to gather, so you will need to make some estimates. As you collect data, establish procedures for gathering it as part of your regular operations. Then when you look for this information next year, it will be easy to obtain. Turndown ratio. The credit department or your own records should be a source of information on each transaction that is reviewed. The ratio of transactions reviewed to transactions booked is called the turndown ratio. It answers the question, “How many transactions must you see to book one lease?” Statistics about the credit approval process are valuable for measuring the efficiency of your marketing efforts. For example, if the average size transaction reviewed in the credit department is greater than the average transaction booked, you are losing larger transactions than you are booking. The reasons for this could vary from rate to credit standards. Generally, this would require some change in your marketing strategy. For example, perhaps you have failed to establish rate parameters before credit review and are reviewing large transactions that are more rate sensitive; therefore, you are losing a higher proportion of these deals. If the average transaction reviewed is smaller than the average transaction booked, your credit standards probably exceed the creditworthiness of the transactions you are asked to consider. This also would warrant a change in your marketing strategy, for example, adding some sort of prescreening, approaching larger companies, or working on credit enhancements like prepaid rent, security deposits, or accelerated rents. Staff resources. To compute your current capacity per day, divide the total number of transactions reviewed by the number of available personnel and then divide that quotient by the number of workdays. Given this capacity, you can determine whether you need to increase staff or make other adjustments, based on projected volume. A rule of thumb is that current capacity can increase 20% before additional personnel are necessary. Sometimes, the credit department reviews other transactions in addition to equipment leases. In this case, capacity or use of that capacity can be difficult to measure. But, since future projections must take into account resources necessary to accomplish the task, even an estimate of capacity and use is helpful. Break-even lease. To calculate the break-even point on each lease, you must determine how much it costs to run the lease department. Costs include rent, heat, lights, salaries, expenses, etc. Again, some of these expenses may have to be estimated, but careful estimates are useful. Divide total cost by the number of transactions booked in the last calendar year to determine the expense of each transaction. Then, add your current average cost of funds, and, using the statistics on the average term and yield of a lease, determine what size transaction is required to break even. For example, if average costs for the hypothetical leasing company described above are $973 per transaction and the leasing company’s average cost of funds is 8 ½%, what size lease will provide $973 income above the cost of money? Using a computer or financial calculator, we learn that for 48 months (average term) at 12% (average yield), it takes a $14,900 lease to break even. It seems logical to use the whole portfolio to offset the lease department’s expenses, but expenses vary considerably from year to year. It is easier to assume that each year’s new volume must offset the expenses. If current new business can offset all expenses, the remaining portfolio will generate a profit. Marketing Plan Given that the average size transaction for our hypothetical company is $32,127 and that a transaction must be at least $14,900 to break even, we can begin to evaluate what the average size transaction ought to be. If management has set a goal of $15 million in new business in 2009, how many new transactions will you have to book in 2009? The 2009 goal divided by current average transaction ($32,127) equals the number of transactions necessary to meet the volume projection: 467. Given that you must book 467 new transactions, how many transactions must be reviewed in 2009? In our hypothetical leasing company, the turndown ratio is 2 to 1; therefore, to obtain 467 new accounts you would have to look at 934 new transactions. Compare this number to the capacity of your credit department. Last year, you looked at 664 transactions, this year you must look at 934 transactions, a 40% increase. The results of these questions may cause you to reevaluate your plans. Perhaps the number of transactions required to obtain your projected volume will be greater than your capacity. Are you going to increase the size of your credit department or increase the average size transaction to decrease the number of deals? For example, instead of increasing the number of transactions reviewed by 40%, we could attempt to increase the average size transaction ($15 million/332 = $45,180, also a 40% increase). When the size of the average transaction increases, the term of the average lease usually increases, too; most lessors won’t offer leases that exceed 36 months for transactions of less than $25,000. Decreasing the average size transaction tends to decrease the average term of your leases. Since increasing size increases the term of the lease, it also increases profits. Summary Requests from current customers for additional leases are easy volume at a low cost. New customers are expensive and hard to obtain unless you have a good marketing plan and an effective back office that minimizes expenses. If you have a target size for transactions, you will not waste time chasing transactions that are either too small or too large. Transactions that are too small may incur costs to add capacity that outweigh the income they generate. It may be more profitable to reject them than to approve them. Large transactions may provide volume, but, due to low rates and low profits, reduce your capacity to handle expenses. By monitoring the average transaction size every month, you will be able to plan capacity to handle requests and give excellent service. As a result, you will benefit from additional business from satisfied customers and business that is concluded successfully because of efficient internal handling. Monitoring current performances lets management respond to both improvements or failures. In the long run, a well organized lease marketing effort protects profits, careers, and income. Mr. Terry Winders, CLP, has been a teacher, consultant, expert witness for the leasing industry for thirty years and can be reached at leaseconsulting@msn.com or 502-327-8666. Previous #102 Columns:
--------------------------------------------------------------- Alta Group Conference Explores How Technology Platforms
CHICAGO, -- How can equipment leasing and finance executives effectively compete, reduce margin pressures and prosper with ever increasing competition and pressure from stockholders? These and other questions will be addressed at the Aug. 20-22 conference planned by The Alta Group.
“One clear way is to ensure that technology strategy and the chosen platform are designed around best practices in equipment leasing,” says Shawn Halladay, managing principal of The Alta Group’s professional development division. “Lessors are increasingly seeking to solve their toughest business challenges through technology and business process optimization,” says the host of the Professional Development Division’s third annual conference on technology and business processes scheduled at the Marriott Oakbrook Hotel in Chicago, Aug. 20-22. Focusing on the theme, “Combating Margin Compression,” speakers will represent industry consultancies, technology providers and equipment leasing and finance companies. Discussion and system exploration will provide a range of information from broad business and strategic viewpoints to technical nuts and bolts. The conference is designed for COOs, CFOs, CIOs, IT managers, risk managers, portfolio/equipment managers, conversion specialists, auditors and quality teams. The Chicago location makes it easy for executives from both coasts to meet face to face, Halladay notes. “Margin compression is on everyone’s mind these days,” Halladay said. “The goal of this two and a half-day event is to open up the various technology applications and see how they work to create efficiencies.” In his consulting practice, Halladay said he is frequently called upon when organizations are considering new platforms. “They want to ensure the systems will be designed around best practices,” he said. Halladay has served the equipment leasing and finance industry for more than 20 years, as a consultant, professional trainer, auditor and lessor. His practice is global with customers in all leasing markets and in North America, South America, Asia and Europe. He provides educational conferences for Latin American clients in Miami each fall in both English and Spanish. He has authored eight books on equipment leasing. Halladay serves on Financial Accounting committee of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, as well as the editorial board of the Journal of Equipment Lease Financing.
Speakers for this year’s conference include another well known leasing educator and industry author, Dr. James Johnson, PhD., Northern Illinois University School of Business. He will discuss how lessors should position themselves to survive in the mature asset finance industry. Dr. Johnson has written or co-authored several books on equipment leasing, including Power Tools for Successful Leasing, Technology Leasing: Power Tools for Lessees and Power Tools for Small Ticket Leasing. Presenters include Mike Zoretich and Mark Belec of Third Pillar; Andrew Denton, CHP Consulting; Joseph Franco, Oracle; and consultant Tom Matlon. Topics include using technology to address risk, outsourcing, cost controls, system selection, accounting dynamics, migration to new platforms, regulatory compliance management and optimizing the performance of a legacy platform. In addition, leading industry providers, such as CHP Consulting, Third Pillar, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Oracle Lease Management, will conduct comprehensive functionality demonstrations of their technology platforms. They will introduce the latest features of their systems, and show how customers are using technology to respond to the dynamic changes taking place in the industry and create cost efficiencies. “The functionality demos using transaction data provided by the conference organizers provide attendees with a clear understanding of how the technology platforms will work in real-world situations,” said Justin Cooper, president, CHP North America. “Everyone uses the same data and scenarios, making comparisons easy.” The cost to attend is $1,495. Persons interested in registering for the conference can call Kaye Reeder at 801-322-4499 or email kreeder@thealtagroup.com. About The Alta Group: The Alta Group is a global consultancy serving equipment leasing and finance companies, investment professionals, manufacturers, banks and government organizations. Founded in 1992, The Alta Group supports clients in North America; Latin America; Western, Central and Eastern Europe; Australia and China. For more information, please visit www.thealtagroup.com. ### Press Release ########################### Verizon Credit Inc. Goes Live with Integrated Solution for RapportÒ and ProFinia™ will enable Verizon to streamline financing options for business customers who choose to finance their communications equipment and services. MINNEAPOLIS, MN,– Customers of Verizon Credit, Inc., will benefit from improved efficiencies and functionality using advanced software from International Decision Systems (IDS). IDS’ Rapport and ProFinia software will allow Verizon Credit to more effectively and efficiently provide business customers with a full array of financing options for their communications equipment and services. Verizon Credit works side by side with Verizon Business and Verizon Telecom to provide customers with innovative financing options to help them manage cash flow and reduce the risk of technology obsolescence. "These new software platforms will enable Verizon Credit to better serve its customers by enhancing our financing operations," said Paul Repp, President and Chief Executive Officer of Verizon Credit Inc. “We will have even greater ability to provide financing options that allow our customers to tap the business power of communications.” Verizon Credit migrated from IDS’ InfoLease, the market-leading portfolio management solution. International Decision Systems is a leading provider of asset finance origination and portfolio management software and consulting, implementation and technical support team services used by financial institutions and equipment manufacturers. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, International Decision Systems also has offices in London, Sydney, Singapore and Bangalore. International Decision Systems offers one of the largest and most experienced global software development teams in the asset finance industry. For additional information about International Decision Systems, visit www.idsgrp.com, or call 1-866-465-9393 to reach global headquarters. ### Press Release ########################### For Businesses Going Global, The Melissa Data Guide to International Address Formats is a “Must Own” Handy desktop reference helps companies obtain postal discounts and ensure mail delivery from one country to another
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif.– Melissa Data, (www.melissadata.com), a developer of high-performance mailing technology solutions, announced today that the company has published The Melissa Data Guide to International Address Formats – a single source of comprehensive information about international addressing for over 140 countries and territories, including examples of postal-code and address formats. This new resource will help companies save money on international postage, decrease delivery times due to inaccurate address formats, and reduce undeliverable mail. The Melissa Data Guide to International Address Formats is a must for international businesses that want to develop web forms, build a global database, enhance CRM programs and improve their data quality. The Guide’s compact size makes it a handy desktop reference and free updates are provided online so companies can keep pace with postal changes that affect the way international mail is delivered. “We constantly hear from customers who are frustrated by the complexities of global address formats” explains Melissa Data VP of sales, Gary Van Roekel. Many Web forms are designed without taking international address standards in to consideration – resulting in lost revenues when orders are not accepted simply because they do not fit a U.S. address format. International addresses tend to contain more and longer address lines than addresses in the United States. And there’s different nomenclature, for instance ZIP Code vs. Postal Code. We decided to put our 20-plus years of know-how into one comprehensive and affordable guide to help companies navigate the complexities of international mailings.” Melissa Data has been helping businesses go global for years with software solutions that capture, validate and cleanse addresses in North America and around the globe. Now Melissa Data offers a new tool that marketers and mailers can use to obtain postal discounts and ensure mail delivery from country to country. For information on how to purchase The Melissa Data Guide to International Address Format, please visit: http://www.melissadata.com/ias. ABOUT MELISSA DATA ### Press Release ###########################
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The largest movie theater in the world, Radio City Music Hall in New York City, opened in December, 1932. It originally had 5,945 seats
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Today's Top Event in History 1972 - The only museum devoted exclusively to jazz music opened. The New York Jazz Museum welcomed visitors for the first time. [headlines]
This Day in American History 1738-Birthday of Mary Katherine Goddard - Colonial printer and publisher. She was the first to publish the Declaration of Independence. Her widowed mother worked in her son's printing plant in Rhode Island as she did. When he moved away leaving it in debt, the women continued the business and published the Providence Gazette. They sold it and moved to Philadelphia to publish the Pennsylvania Chronicle. Selling this paper, she moved to Maryland as the editor and publisher of the Maryland Journal which she published right through the Revolutionary war. NBA Finals Champions This Date 1996 Chicago Bulls -------------------------------------------------------------- Baseball Poem
- from: Songs Of The Out-o'-doors If you've never sat in the blazing sun But if the sound of the ball that's hit Chuck-full of glamour, In every city or country spot, And if you're watching the players sweat, Calling for muscle, Oh, the silence tense and the hush of doubt Oh, the jeers, the cheers, an the throbbing thrill, Free of the grafter, Published in: The Popular Magazine - April 7, 1912 -------------------------------------------------------------- SuDoku The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. What could be simpler? http://leasingnews.org/Soduku/soduko-main.htm -------------------------------------------------------------- Daily Puzzle How to play: Refresh for current date: --------------------------------------------------------------
NPR Sunday Puzzle http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91504548 --------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.gasbuddy.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------
Weather See USA map, click to specific area, no commercials -------------------------------------------------------------- News on Line---Internet Newspapers Derby, Kansas -------------------------------- |
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