The United States is one of the earliest, fastest growing, and largest countries in the leasing industry. Through the study of American lease history, lease classification and terminology, lease tax, accounting and finance, lease legal issues, lease contract design, lease assets and risk management, and the main issues of leasing company management, combined with the comparison of the current status of China's leasing industry We deeply understand that leasing has a broad market space in China, and has bright development prospects. The development of the leasing industry urgently needs the support of the government, the cooperation of financial institutions, and the constant standardization and innovation of leasing institutions.
The development of the American leasing industry
1. Main data of American leasing industry
In 2000, the US leasing amount was 318 billion US dollars (excluding car leasing 100 billion US dollars, real estate leasing and second-hand equipment leasing), the market penetration rate exceeded one-third, of which, the second-hand equipment leasing amount is increasing, accounting for the leasing amount About 25% of the total, it is expected that the equipment leasing amount will increase substantially in 2001. At present, there are about 50,000 employees in the US leasing industry (excluding cars and real estate leasing), of which there are 250 registered leasers (GLP), accounting for about 5 ‰. There are currently about 4,200 leasing companies (almost all of them are brokers), and the average business volume of each company is 20-40 million US dollars. There are also 25,000 rental companies. Almost all American companies accept leases, or have done leases, and all the streets have "lease". Leases are in every aspect of the United States. In comparison, China has just started in terms of both penetration and total volume. Especially in the real estate industry, the market is very huge, and we have just considered getting involved. Leasing has affected every aspect of the US economy. The government's strengthening management and active support and utilization of the leasing industry is an important guarantee for the development of the modern leasing industry.
2. The US government's policy support for the leasing industry
In the United States, choosing lease is not only an economic decision of an enterprise, but has also become an act actively promoted by the government. The positive role played by leasing in the development of the national economy is valued by the government. The governments of the United States, Britain, and Japan have formulated and implemented economic policies to support the leasing industry through relevant agencies, and used leasing to promote industrial restructuring and promote social and economic growth.
As early as 1963, during the Kennedy administration, the United States tried to activate the economy by stimulating investment in response to the economic situation of the year, so the introduction of an investment tax deduction system and a tax preferential system for the rental industry to guide people to pay more attention to the use of property equipment To dilute the concept of ownership, so that enterprises prefer to lease rather than purchase equipment, thus forming an economic motivation for the widespread popularization of the modern leasing industry. In the same year, the US government strongly encouraged banks to enter the leasing industry. The implementation of the above two measures has had a considerable effect, the leasing business has been unprecedentedly developed, and the United States has become the center of global financial leasing. With the continuous deepening of the concept of social division of labor, a comprehensive and new type of cooperative relationship between the American leasing company and banks has formed division of labor and cooperation, wholesale and retail, complementarity and extension, learning from each other's weaknesses, and mutual benefit. In 1981, the US government promulgated the "Economic Renewal Tax Law", revised the original leasing rules, implemented the "accelerated cost recovery system", and formulated the leasing rules for credit "safe harbor". The new rules relax the standard of "T rue Lease", so that more leasing businesses can enjoy preferential tax policies.
The economic policy of the United States to support the financial leasing industry can be summarized as "the government uses the interest mechanism-investment tax reduction and exemption policy to stimulate the society to expand investment and promote the rapid development of the leasing industry." Specifically, the US government uses investment tax relief as an economic lever to drive its interests. First, it encourages new investment, induces the direction of investment, directs investment to government-designated technical equipment, and promotes the continuous adoption of new The production of new products with technical equipment accelerates the upgrading of products; the second is to use tax relief to attract and stimulate investment growth and suppress economic recession; the third is the benefit of tax relief can be shared by both parties in leasing, which has become a benefit mechanism for the development of the leasing industry To promote the rapid popularization of the leasing industry; Fourth, use its socio-economic utility to allow high-value advanced equipment to adopt the leveraged leasing method, quickly transforming into real productivity.
By 2000, the US economy continued to grow for the eighth year. An important reason is that it adopted leases and other levers, implemented active fiscal policies, released water to raise fish, encouraged investment, and enabled companies to continue to rise in technology and use high technology. To maintain the continuous strengthening of corporate profitability. It has not only increased output, but also formed a virtuous circle of the economy and sustainable development.
3. The basic operation method of American leasing
The difference between financing lease and operating lease in the United States is very different from that in China in terms of regulations, accounting, taxation and definitions. The basis of China's judgment is often whether the property rights at the end of the period are transferred, the transfer is financing, and the transfer is not operating. Most of our financial leasing companies do financial leasing. The basis for the judgment of financing or operation in the United States is clearly stated in accounting standards, taxation and unified commercial law. Generally, banks do financial leasing, and most leasing companies are intermediate companies. Most leasing companies do not use their own money to do leasing business. This is very impressive to us. The basic operations are: financial leasing by banks, large insurance companies, investment funds, etc. to the leasing company, and the leasing company operating lease to the lessee, the ownership belongs to the leasing company. During the lease term, the leasing company retains ownership (equivalent to mortgage) to the bank, and the lessee directly returns the rent to the bank. (This is similar to what we call project financing.) The leasing company calls this practice: selling the lease contract to the bank, and it is non-recourse. The essence is to sell the charging right (the right to collect rent) of the lease contract to the bank without recourse. Therefore, it is "zero" risk for leasing companies. At the same time, it is not a liability of the leasing company. Therefore, as long as the bank accepts it, it is not affected by the debt ratio. Banks, insurance companies, investment funds, etc., then package these contracts to Wall Street for securitization of leased assets, thereby completing a capital chain.
The income of American leasing companies is very high, and there are three main sources of income: commissions (generally 6%), interest spreads and residual value processing of equipment. Residual value processing is a great source of income for leasing companies and the main source of risk for leasing companies. Therefore, the choice of equipment and the setting of residual values are very important. General high-tech equipment can only do short-term projects. In general, the income level of American leasing companies is much higher than that of Chinese companies.
Leasing is a product and a market tool. This concept has become common knowledge among American leasing companies and employees. They design different forms of leasing according to different industries, different customers, and different equipment. Practitioners are generally referred to as sales staff, and business departments are generally referred to as sales departments, with a strong sense of marketing and awareness of selling products and services.
The bad debts of the US leasing industry are generally within 0.75%. Bad debts are considered overdue for three months. We used to have a misunderstanding about American leasing: what 100% financing, no guarantee, etc. Leasing contracts in the United States all have a margin, and the margin ratio ranges from 15%, 20% to 75%, depending on the customer's credit rating. And there are guarantees, which can be third parties, mostly personal guarantees of the main shareholders of the leasing enterprise. The rent for the first period, the last period, or the first, second, last, and second periods will be collected in one lump sum. This has brought huge hidden benefits to the leasing company, while also reducing risks and increasing cash flow. It is called down payment in the United States. The rent in the United States is basically paid monthly, but it can also be monthly or unequal. The lease term is more than 60 months. In the US, 80% of rental projects are recommended by suppliers. Leasing companies and suppliers have remarketing agreements, similar to our "repurchase". They believe that the benefits of leasing to suppliers are: promotion, control of production, licensing substitution, technological confidentiality, and control of not only the secondary market but also the primary market. Therefore, their leasing really acts as a financial intermediary and tax leverage.
In contrast, most leasing companies in China are still dominated by traditional financial leasing, and they also play the dual role of banks and leasing companies. This is caused by our original misunderstanding of leasing, which has caused China ’s leasing companies to undertake more Big risk, but the return is not as high as American companies. Of course, in the past two years of pioneering and innovation, the leasing company's idea of playing a financial role, leverage role, and promotion role has been confirmed and affirmed. In many methods of operation, we have innovated some of the same approaches as American companies: such as depositing one, renting three, project financing, etc., but these still require us to spend a lot of energy to deepen and develop.
At present, the American leasing company has established a new development direction, that is, seizing the difference between the economic life of the equipment, the depreciation period and the lease period, and adopting the method of operating revenue sharing to extend the lease and provide special services different from others . They attach great importance to participating in some large-scale projects, such as power plants and aircraft. It is expected that after three years, the number of US leasing companies will be reduced through mergers and acquisitions, but the market penetration rate will still not be less than 1/3. And we have noticed that American leasing companies have plans to enter the Chinese market.
4. Tax, credit, and legal environment in the United States
1. Taxation
The current preferential tax policies for leasing in the United States are: leasing companies provide depreciation, and they can choose independently from the straight-line depreciation method, double balance depreciation method, and 150% depreciation method; support. On the contrary, bank loans cannot enjoy tax benefits. The state realizes industrial adjustment through leasing, guides and encourages investment, and guides consumption. Reasons for doing this: ① Through leasing and increasing investment, although the lessor and the lessee enjoy investment tax reduction benefits, employment is expanded, the advancement of technology and equipment is guaranteed, and the industry is continuously upgraded. The product has increased, and the added value is also higher, so the final tax is increased. ②The combination of finance and sales through leasing has increased the sales of equipment and increased taxes. In addition, the lease reduces sales expenses, increases the profits of the manufacturing plant, and expands the tax base. ③ This is a "active fiscal policy" in the true sense. It conserves financial resources, releases water and raises fish, maintains the healthy and sustainable development of the economy, and truly plays a role in tax leverage. ④ This kind of policy encourages enterprises to continuously invest and boost domestic demand. The economy has developed and the source of tax revenue has also been ensured. The reason for the rapid development of the United States in the past 10 years is that the policy of renting water for fish farming and "storing wealth to the people" is also indispensable. This positive policy has brought strong stamina to economic development.
2. Credit environment
The American credit evaluation system is well developed, and detailed information on personal credit and corporate credit can be easily found on the Internet, and there are specialized companies to do this system. We currently only have the bank credit inquiry system of the enterprise, and it is very simple. However, there are still various materials. The key is that no one will do the processing and sorting to make it systematic. For example: the renting company has reported for several years, we can establish a database through the computer to judge its trend. You can also use industry data, tax data, and various statistical reports and yearbooks to create a database to form a convincing evaluation system.
3. Law
The US legal system and environment are different, which is very different from our country, but it is very beneficial to the standardization of the rental industry. For example, according to US law, if the lessee breaches the contract, the lessor can withdraw the equipment and can continue to collect all unpaid (including unexpired) rent from the original lessee or guarantor; if the lessee defaults and refuses to let the lessor Taking the equipment away, that is a criminal issue, can be resolved through legal procedures. American leasing companies attach great importance to contracts, documents, and materials, and strictly follow the contract documents. They believe that problems in the review can be saved, and there must be no mistakes in the contract documents.
The Enlightenment of American Leasing Industry to China
Through the understanding of the American leasing industry, we realize that there is a big gap between China's leasing industry and foreign countries, and the service level of our country's leasing industry needs to be improved urgently. In the future, China's leasing industry has the following shortcomings that must be made up.
1. Insufficient theoretical research on leasing and insufficient domestic and foreign exchanges in the leasing industry. It is necessary to strengthen learning and training, strengthen communication and inspection, and strengthen theoretical research and development strategy research. At present, there is an urgent need to develop China's leasing theory based on China's legal, tax and accounting characteristics.
2. Lack of communication channels with banks, listed companies, insurance, funds, manufacturers, etc., it is necessary to vigorously promote the role and function of leasing and the concepts of social division of labor, wholesale and retail, mutual benefit, win-win, etc., so that people can understand leasing properly. Give full play to the financial intermediary role of leasing.
3. Insufficient network construction and software development, it is necessary to spend great efforts on network construction of customers, manufacturers (suppliers), banks, etc .; and actively develop software such as credit evaluation systems, project evaluation systems, and customer management systems.
4. In the business, it is necessary to further deepen the understanding of the role of leasing intermediary, promotion, leverage and "leasing products", and integrate it into each negotiated project to try brokering business, combined with operating lease Advantages, try operating leases, give full play to the positive role of "leasing residual value".
China's leasing market is very huge, especially after joining the WTO, the role and status of leasing is more prominent, and the leasing industry will definitely have a great role and the future is promising.
