Finance Leasing Manual - FLM1.44

Volume of leasing

A great deal of investment remains funded through the medium of finance leases. For example, the Finance & Leasing Association report for 1997 shows new finance leases for £8.9 billion of assets were written and the total stock of such assets was estimated at £33.6 billion. The corresponding figures for business hire purchase leases (that is, excluding private consumer leases) were £8.3 billion and £12.7 billion. The report notes that there had been a shift from finance leases to hire purchase leases, partly because lessors had a shortage of tax capacity and could not, therefore, use the capital allowances.