Paul Nash is one of the UK's most experienced asset finance professionals. After an 11-year stint at PWC as partner and global head of asset finance, he is moving on to pastures new as a 50% shareholder at motor finance provider Creditplus. Christopher Marchant spoke to Nash about his time in the industry, and what he wants to see more of in asset finance for 2019 and beyond.

Prior to joining PwC in 2007, Paul Nash had worked for Arthur Andersen and Deloitte from 1996. Following graduation from Loughborough University in 1984, Nash worked at thennamed PriceWaterhouse for a first 11-year period. In his career as a tax and leasing specialist, Nash worked on projects such as the privatisation of British Rail and the expansion of GE Capital across asset classes.

Further interests adopted by Nash over his career include areas as varied as aircraft leasing and SME finance. Assessing what has changed in the leasing process during this time, Nash says: "When I look back, I'd spend a lot of time structuring deals in a much more complex way. Tax tended to be a bigger part of the deal, with first-year allowances affecting the price of the leases."

Having spent time working in Europe and the US, Nash has often dreamed of seeing London transformed into an international hub of leasing, matching the city's clout in the wider financial sector.

He is, however, also realistic about the immediate prospects of this transformation. "We don't really have international leasing companies here, and that was originally because our tax laws prejudiced against leasing," he explains.

"I'd love to see a truly international asset finance company develop; I think that would be good for the UK, but I don't know if I'll see it in my lifetime.

"We've never really had a large international lessor based in the UK, something like GE Capital or CIT Group. I don't think the current turmoil will stop it happening, but it might reinforce the mindset of banks being much more focused on the home territory. Yet the UK's tax laws are favourable, our legal system is favourable, the skill sets are favourable as well, so we've got all the ingredients."

In terms of immediate consideration, there is, of course, important legislation affecting UK leasing companies to be implemented in 2019. Of the accounting challenges that

IFRS 16 may represent, Nash says: "Number one: I don't think it's going to change whether people are going to lease or not. What it will do is remind people that leasing is a great way of getting secured finance, paying for the asset as the asset generates income for you.

"The fact that some of the operating leases will now go on the balance sheet is concerning some people, but another reality is it's the same for everyone."

As well as a shift in culture, there has also been a shift in the knowledge base of asset finance professionals since Nash began in the late 1980s.

As an expert on tax, he is all too aware of how this intertwines with regulation and the essential need to make a profit "It's more of a volume game now, whereas before we'd be trying to optimise accounting and tax," he notes.

"You now have to utilise those skills in order to not be at a disadvantage; the rules are so complicated you could easily get taxed on more than you profit if you're not careful, and that then hits the deal value."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nash pinpoints the digital revolution as where the asset finance industry is likely to undergo the most significant changes. "It's about the process of getting from customer inquiry to completed deal. This includes technology changes such as Open Banking," he explains.

"Take, for example, a hairdresser who wants to finance a new salon: that's a difficult industry to finance. The hairdresser may well find that the banks won't lend but by going into Open Banking they may find a loan.

"I think artificial intelligence will help in terms of selecting who to lend to in terms of the asset usage and working out what the right asset is, but I think, overall, the big technology-driven change is the smartphone. This has allowed us to move away from a traditional lease to temporary subscription."

He adds: "However, subscription is expensive and it doesn't seem to fit into any consumer need category, but I think it will grow and once you get to a certain level of size, it could work."

Outside the specifics of trends, Nash is able to take a more general look at what the asset finance industry needs.

He says: "I'm not a fan of people who think of leasing as a product as opposed to an industry, and I think the banks that have pushed the leasing area into the bank product area have generally not prospered.

"There is a different mindset and set of skills needed to be a lessor and to be a lender. For leasing to prosper, they need to keep hold of that industry; they need to do more to streamline the process to get from the inquiry to completed deal as quickly as possible."

He continues: "What I'd like to see the industry develop into is to have much more knowledge about the product so they can take more risk on credit, knowing that if the customer defaults, that asset is there to secure the debt."

Recently, Nash has also become aware that he does not want the generation that revitalised and defined modern asset finance to be the one that ultimately ends up retiring from the industry without passing on its knowledge; a related key issue being that younger, aspiring finance professionals are simply not seeing asset finance as an option.

"Outside the car industry, it's hard to think of a large multinational company where the main product is leasing," he notes.

"Lessors are divisions of banks, so it's unlikely you're going to apply for the leasing division of a bank consciously. You may join a bank and then be pushed into that division; you may love it and carry on, but I think it's not well known enough as a subject matter at a more junior age to make people think: 'That's what I want to do.'"

Nash is by no means galloping off into the sunset just yet, and as well as offers of nonexecutive board positions, he will be kept busy by the 50% stake he has taken in Creditplus.

Nash entered this area of the industry following his passion for the complexities and uniqueness of car leasing, and he intends to use his interests to great effect.

"Creditplus is an online car-supply company. You pick a car from the internet, then the car is dropped off at our garages. You don't actually see the car until it arrives, and then you have five days to reject it if you don't like it."

Offering some final thoughts on the impact of the asset finance industry, Nash says: "It has been right at the forefront of providing finance to SMEs, and that's incredibly important for it to carry on. In joining Creditplus, I know how difficult and challenging it can be to raise finance, and having asset finance there is actually incredibly important - not just to SMEs but also to the UK economy. Long may it last, and I think the sooner we can promote leasing as a viable job within the industry, the better."

From his position of experience in the industry, Nash remains adamant that asset finance is in a positive place.

This is not to say it is perfect, and he admits: "A complex tax system has been very good for me. As a tax advisor it's worked very well, but I do think it's now overly complicated, and I just don't think it's delivering what it needs to deliver."

There is also the continuing need to ensure a fresh batch of asset finance professionals, an issue inextricably linked to a desire for growing awareness of the very process of asset finance itself. Nash identifies this as one of the top concerns for leasing, and something he hopes to work to rectify in his own career.

"The dash for Nash: an asset finance pro reflects on time at PwC" was originally created and published by Leasing Life, a GlobalData owned brand.