Mercedes-Benz Bank AG posted new leasing and financing contracts for passenger cars and commercial vehicles totalling 13.3 billion euros. That is a new record for the Stuttgart-based company. “With our financial services, we are in very close proximity to the customer and support the sales of vehicles from Daimler Group in Germany. In doing so, we put nearly 400,000 vehicles of our corporate brands Mercedes-Benz, AMG, smart, Setra and Fuso on the road in 2019 alone,” says Benedikt Schell, Chairman of the Board of Mercedes-Benz Bank.
The total portfolio of all contracts handled by Mercedes-Benz Bank amounted to 25.9 billion euros at the end of 2019 and was thus slightly below the previous year. The reason for this was a successful off-balance ABS transaction in the amount of 1.25 billion euros that allowed placing securitized receivables with investors. Mercedes-Benz Bank made an important contribution last year to the already announced operating profit (EBIT) of Daimler Mobility AG of 2.1 billion euros.
Success with commercial vehicles, insurance policies and all-inclusive packages
The positive development of the sales figures in Germany in 2019 was a factor for the success of Mercedes-Benz Bank. In the commercial vehicle business, Mercedes-Benz Bank AG posted new leasing and financing contracts totalling 4.1 billion euros (up 5 percent from 2018) and thus set a record. Particularly successful were all-inclusive packages such as CharterWay Service Leasing, which offers commercial vehicle customers a product bundle of leasing and services for a fixed monthly payment.
At 9.2 billion euros, the new vehicle business with Mercedes-Benz and smart was slightly below last year’s level (9.2 billion euros). Mercedes-Benz Bank was able to make gains with insurance policies related to mobility. For example, this was the first time the company concluded more than 24,000 warranty contracts, an increase of 24 percent over 2018. Warranty contracts protect customers against unexpected repair expenses. Customers’ deposited funds grew to 11.9 billion euros, up from 10.9 billion euros in the previous year. Mercedes-Benz Bank uses the deposits as a refinancing basis for leasing and financing offers for Daimler vehicles.
Financial services for the switch to electric mobility
Electric vehicles are largely being leased. That is why Mercedes-Benz Bank sees new business potentials in the coming months and years due to the market launch of numerous new hybrid and electric vehicles – such as the plug-in hybrid variants from the A- to the S-Class of Mercedes-Benz, the electric smart models or the EQC. Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz Bank provides comprehensive insurance coverage for batteries of hybrid and electric vehicles in order to make the entry and switch to CO2-neutral mobility for customers as simple as possible and at predictable fixed monthly payments. In association with Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Mobility, the company offers additional services and hardware related to electric mobility. Among others, they include mobility packages via Mercedes-Benz Rent for supplementing electric mobility for longer trips or charging station settlement systems for commercial customers with electric vehicle fleets.
“With this range of products, we are satisfying all customer needs related to electric mobility and strengthening our core business of financing, leasing and insurance products. With our financial services, we will actively contribute to supporting the introduction of hybrid and electric vehicles from the Daimler Group,” says Schell.
Outlook
Mercedes-Benz Bank continues to anticipate a demanding market environment for the current financial year 2020. The company expects to contribute to the announced target return of Daimler Mobility AG accordingly, which aims for an adjusted return on equity of 12 percent this year. To this end, Mercedes-Benz Bank will continue to pursue already initiated measures as well as start new initiatives related to cost control, digitization and process optimization in order to become even more customer-focused, agile and efficient.
