And in a recent article, leasing expert Shawn Halliday, author of “A Guide to Equipment Leasing” and “The Handbook of Equipment Leasing,” said a survey of CFOs showed that more than 60 percent “would not alter their lease financing strategies based on these new rules.”

Still, increased regulations mean increased risks. And increased risks could mean increased costs. “Some lessors also will have to reassess their pricing strategies and performance metrics,” Halliday noted.

Or as Deighan predicted, “No matter how you slice it, the cost to lease is going to go up.”
Lenders are already “very closely scrutinized by regulators on the reserve side,” Deighan said. “As a lender, you’ve already tightened how much you will lend based on a percentage of assets and how much you will charge. With more questions going on in the leasing market, you’re going to say either, ‘You know, I’m going to step away from doing leasing deals until I know what’s going to happen,’ or ‘We’re going to charge more to cover our anticipated expenses.’”

As for true impact, for now, “It’s hard to tell,” he admitted. “There’s a lot of lobbying going on behind the scenes for exemptions and loopholes and different ways to account for things.”

Capital frees up, but banks become coy
The capital equipment leasing industry has been through a rough two-year patch. The 2010 annual survey by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association, a capital equipment lenders lobby, is characterized by descriptions like “stunning,” “unprecedented” and “never before.” New business volume dropped a record 30 percent, compared to the 2 percent decline from the year before, according to the survey. Net income declined 54 percent, and revenues dropped around 14 percent. ROE was in single digits, for the first time in more than a decade. For the health care sector specifically, much of the drop in business is due to reimbursement cuts and tightened access to capital, experts said.

Independent organizations and the smallest companies, with less than $50 million in business value, were hardest hit, according to the ELFA survey. Captives fared the best, although they too lost 46 percent of new business volume.

Still, credit has become more available from its 2008 nadir, according to experts DOTmed News spoke with. Although hard figures are difficult to come by, analysts said they’ve noticed a general easing – with more cash available. Meanwhile, banks and other lending institutions have become more wary about lending credit. There’s good reason for their caution — according to reports, delinquencies and full-year losses are at record levels, with full-year losses almost 2 percent of all full-year average receivables.

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