Meeting emission targets is an increasing focus for vehicle and fleet owners across all sectors, and is something Close Brothers Asset Finance has strongly focused on. In this Q&A with Andrew New, Head of the National Accounts & ESG team, we find out more about him and the team
What’s your background?
I have over 25 years’ experience in the asset finance sector and established the National Accounts team in April 2017, taking on the additional remit of leading our work in ESG within the commercial transport sector in January 2022.
What is your team responsible for?
The National Accounts and ESG team is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with manufacturers and dealers across the UK to provide funding solutions to end user customers who are looking to acquire increasingly expensive, but essential, assets for day-to-day business use.
We focus on the traditional ‘heritage’ markets, as well as the new and emerging technologies in both established vehicle classes, along with the new to market products that are being produced to be compatible with the net zero targets for the UK and Europe.
What are your ambitions for the future?
To have a market-leading team that can assist with both established and new applications for the sector, working closely with product offerings that are already available. We also want to work closely with all manufacturers as new and bespoke solutions are being developed to have a full and firm understanding of not only the ‘now’, but also the future.
At Close Brothers Asset Finance, we strive to be experts in all our fields and have proven to be so in the Transport sector for over 35 years. This is a trend we intend to continue as the whole market goes through the most profound change since the introduction of the ICE engine.
By immersing ourselves we will be able to advise and guide both our partners and our customers as they undertake the change to zero emission logistics.
Give us an example of how you have helped a customer
The team provided a facility for a taxi firm that has allowed them to grow their fleet of electric taxis. Based in London, they rent a fleet of over 300 of the latest TX taxis, all of which are fully insured and maintained. This includes a significant number of fully electric TX taxi models.
We are really pleased we were able to restructure their existing fleet finance, lowering their initial repayments, which enabled them to reinvest in their fleet and continue to trade.
Why Close Brothers Asset Finance?
We are the largest, most successful and longest-established asset finance funder in the UK with over 30 years’ experience working with SMEs through all economic cycles.
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