Sal Settineri, managing director of capital markets at GE Commercial Finance, has no doubts at all about the virtues of asset-based lending. “It’s a good product in good times and a great product in tough times,” he says.
According to The Financial Times, the sector is “rising up the food chain” and has managed to shrug off the effects of the year-old credit crunch that continues to plague the markets. The industry was estimated to be worth more than £191bn at the end of 2007 and has continued to grow this year.