Member Article

Hitachi Finance doubles up in Leeds

Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance has doubled the size of its operation in Leeds to support a dramatic growth in its business. The expansion will double the size of its city centre offices to over 35,000 sq ft .

The company has seen its turnover quadruple from £315m in 2009 to more than £1.3 billion last year and is now the UK’s largest retail point of sale credit provider, working with some of the UK’s biggest high street names, including John Lewis, B&Q and DFS.

The consumer lending arm of the Japanese engineering group is a relatively new entrant to the UK lending market, but it’s refreshing different approach has seen it win significant new business while gaining an enviable reputation.

Last year it launched a new direct to consumer personal loans business, Hitachi Personal Finance, which has already delivered significant growth in a market traditionally dominated by the high street banks.

Hitachi Personal Finance has consistently topped the best buy tables and enjoyed customer satisfaction scores of around 98% and 5 stars for its personal loans, from Defaqto, an independent research company and Money Facts, as its fresh approach has been embraced by customers.

Hitachi has also diversified into Motor finance, providing dealer finance for well-known brands including Carloan4U, Stoneacre and Carcraft.

Gerald Grimes, Managing Director of Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance, puts Hitachi’s growth down to its ability to adapt to evolving consumer need quickly.

He said: “We have grown by doing all we can to support our customers, from increasing lending every year through the recession, to investing in the latest technology that will enable our retailers and direct customers to take advantage of the digital economy.

“Our innovation-led approach is driving our growth both in terms of turnover and the number of staff employed. We have doubled the size of our operation in Leeds, expanding into a new building on our existing site in the city centre. This significant investment in Leeds is a vote of confidence in the strength of the city’s financial services expertise and wider business talent.”

As well as delivering a new approach to customer service, Hitachi is also investing in technology and product development, to meet the changing needs of consumers.

With recent figures from eMarketer highlighting that mobile commerce sales alone are expected to top £17 billion by 2017, Hitachi is making multi-million pound investments to support the growth of its retailers in the mobile economy and is now exploring how it can use finger vein technology to allow payments to be made at point of sale with just your finger, providing enhanced security and speed of transaction.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .