The Dig

On the heels of its $8.6 billion merger with fellow financier Synovus, Pinnacle Financial Partners plans to boost its equipment finance business with new markets, customers and operational opportunities. The combined bank holds $117.2 billion in assets and will be branded as Pinnacle in 2027, according to a Jan. 2 Pinnacle release. The merger creates a significant expansion runway, particularly as Pinnacle introduces equipment finance into Synovus’ footprint, Kris Foster, president of equipment finance and specialty industries, tells Equipment Finance News during this episode of “The Dig” podcast. “They didn’t have an equipment finance product, so it’s absolute greenfield for us and a new opportunity,” he says. “One of the key things with this merger is there’s only 6% overlap, so we fit really well together as you look at the geography.” Equipment finance remains central to Pinnacle’s commercial banking strategy, contributing more than 15% of new loan growth, Foster says. Finding success with new platform Pinnacle’s combined equipment finance platform provides both volume and specialization, combining structured lending expertise with asset-backed discipline, setting it apart as banks focus on risk-adjusted returns, Foster says. “Understanding that asset and bringing that asset discipline is a huge piece to our puzzle and helps mitigate losses,” he says. “Sometimes the best deals I do are the ones we say no to.” — Kris Foster, president of equipment finance and specialty industries, PinnacleWith the equipment finance platform growing to more than $2 billion in assets in just over four years, Pinnacle is also investing in technology to support scale, Foster says. “We’re in the process of building out additional capabilities with our APIs and integrating those into different platforms so we can better understand our data and make better decisions,” he says. “We’re looking at a lot of different AI products, we’re leveraging CoPilot, we’re using AI to help identify on the sales side some customers.” Despite increased investment in technology, Pinnacle’s edge is service rather than scale, Foster says. “We can never outspend the big guys, and I can’t get into a dollar-for-dollar technology war with the big banks out there,” he says. “We’re going to invest in [technology], we’re going to put into … that client experience and make sure we take care of our customers.”

The specialty finance market is experiencing a correction as different credit cycles normalize after a year of uncertainty. Specialty finance business lines follow different credit cycles based on sector, but sectors such as rental are seeing the most pressure due to an industrywide correction as “over-fleeted” clients drive higher credit stress and more nonperforming loans, 1st Source Corp. President and Chief Executive Andrea Short tells Equipment Finance News during this episode of “The Dig” podcast. 1st Source Corp. is the parent company of 1st Source Bank. “Equipment values are holding, and so I think that that is really helping to mitigate that credit risk,” she says. “We have strong reserves, and that allows us to work with our clients through times that are tough, and so helping them deeply, helping them run their business, make decisions on locations, that type of thing that helps mitigate that credit risk.” Meanwhile, the South Bend, Ind.-based bank expects its strongest growth in 2026 to come from its renewable energy division as companies rush to secure tax credits before they expire, Short says. In terms of specialty finance, construction equipment represents the strongest growth opportunity, while auto rental and trucking are likely to see more moderate or limited demand, she adds. “The strongest [specialty finance sector] is construction equipment, and it's the replacement, it's the new contracts, and it's the road building,” she says. In contrast, the truck segment — primarily medium- and heavy-duty over-the-road trucks and trailers — is showing the greatest slowdown, driven by softer demand as well as tighter credit standards and greater selectivity in what the bank is willing to finance, Short says Still, truck represents 1st Source’s smallest portfolio, minimzing the impact of the moderation. Adjusting risk management approach In addition, the bank manages risk relative to how different assets hold value and by closely monitoring collateral values, equipment performance and asset locations based on years of expertise tracking resale behavior, Short says. “That's easier to do with aircraft than it is with an excavator, but there are things we can do on all types … of equipment to really monitor where it's being used and where our collateral is actually located,” she says. “I think that we've gotten better at that as technology has improved over the years,” Tune in to the newest episode of “The Dig” to hear from Short about how she’s taking over 1st Source Corp. and 1st Source Bank, and preserving the organization's long-standing culture amid modernization, economic forces affecting the specialty finance group and risk management. Register here for the free Equipment Finance News webinar “Tech-driven risk management: How innovation is reshaping equipment finance” set for Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 11 a.m. ET.

As digitalization and AI reshape the equipment finance industry, it remains essential for lenders to preserve and share the expertise built over years of experience. While digitalization speeds up processes, it cannot replace the need for personal expertise in equipment finance, as success still requires understanding the equipment, its use, collateral value, cash flow patterns and business seasonality to avoid costly mistakes, 1st Source Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Christopher Murphy III tells Equipment Finance News during this episode of “The Dig” podcast. 1st Source Corp. is parent company of 1st Source Bank. “It's a multi-varied equation that you've got to be running with, but you’ve got to have the human element there,” he says. “You can't just let an AI tool do that, because it's not going to go out and collect it.” Digitalization and AI accelerate decision-making but also amplify mistakes, requiring lenders to manage client concerns and closely track equipment values, depreciation trends and economic signals, Murphy says. Anticipating these factors helps identify early warning signs and better guide customers through market shifts. It’s also important for industry veterans to prepare younger leaders for them, he says. “It's really counseling … be more intentional about talking about it, thinking about it, looking at it, and then moving forward,” he says. Leadership transition Murphy, nearing 80, is transitioning leadership of publicly traded 1st Source Bank after 50 years, and he aims to continue the legacy built on long-term focus, quality earnings and a family-oriented culture through his counsel as he hands the reins to Andrea Short. Short is the president of 1st Source Corp. and CEO of 1st Source Bank, and will become president and CEO of the corporation in addition to being chief executive at the bank, effective Oct. 1. Murphy will become executive chairman of both entities. Murphy’s son, Kevin Murphy, executive vice president and chief digital officer for the bank, will become bank president. Evolving finance landscape Meanwhile, as the equipment finance undergoes additional changes with new technology and evolving equipment use, experienced executives should caution future leaders against the risks of easy money, as over-leveraging and weak support from third-party financiers can leave clients vulnerable when markets shift, Murphy says. “Don't overreact and make sure you're close to the customer, counsel them through it, and be careful when the customer is borrowing somewhere else and you've got other lenders who don't know what they're doing or are going to react in a wrong way,” he says. “It's important you know who you're financing with — not only what you're financing — so that you've got people who are experienced on the other side, experienced at working through problems.” Tune in to the newest episode of “The Dig” to hear from Murphy about the lessons he’s learned after nearly 50 years in financial services, the growth of 1st Source Bank, preparing for succession, navigating industry changes, and challenges and opportunities facing the equipment finance and specialty finance industry.

Podcast: Ignite Attachments targeting Amazon-like model for attachments Listen as ‘The Dig’ speaks with OEM’s Trisha Pearson Category: Material handling As equipment dealers and lenders expand their product offerings to diversify and meet customer needs, attachment and implement Ignite Attachments is adopting an Amazon-like approach to distribution and service. The rise of direct-to-consumer and e-commerce reflects growing consumer comfort with purchasing high-ticket items online, which is something the equipment attachments and implements industry can adopt, Trisha Pearson, director of business development at the Moorhead, Minn.-headquartered OEM, tells Equipment Finance News on this episode of “The Dig” podcast. “Websites like Amazon are also showcasing that it needs to be a relatively easy experience in doing so, and the acquisition time needs to be fast,” she says. “Although our industry, some may consider it to have been stagnant or static for a number of years, and there's a lot of our competitors who their value prop is, ‘we've been here, you can trust us,’ that's not us.” Ignite aims to partner with non-traditional third parties to integrate more payment and financing tools to make it easier for customers to search, buy and finance equipment online amid today’s economic challenges, Pearson says. “Today we have one third party plugin, it's called Credit Key, and it offers a buy now, pay later option for those B2B transactions, which is a lot of our transactions,” she says. “We're looking to expand that offering as folks are becoming more familiar in their shopping on other websites with some of those payment plugins and offering flexible ways to pay, so we want to make it easy for people to acquire our equipment in a way that's right for them.” In addition to adopting an Amazon-like approach to equipment attachment purchasing, Ignite also adopted an Amazon-like approach to the supply chain, opening distribution centers in Atlanta and Reno to make it easier and faster for their products to get to their destination, Pearson says. “Sites like Amazon are training folks that acquiring something that they purchase within two days is an expectation,” she says. “That's difficult in [a less-than-truckload] delivery world, but having availability and fast acquisition for the person who is diversifying their business and buying that next attachment to do so is really important to us.” Tune in to the newest episode of “The Dig” to hear from Whorton about trends in agriculture equipment financing, managing residual value, adapting to customer's needs, future trends and empowering the next generation of farmers.

Tariffs can be considered a business problem, knowing the fact that we are a 1.4 trillion industry, and I would say close to 30 to 40% of the equipment probably is going to be impacted in some way, shape or form. Right in terms of data, crane, we cut across data, CRM and AI, it's there in our name itself. So then, if we, if you have to break it down right data, for example. So when, when you come across tariffs, you want to ensure that you're talking about how you can go from a descriptive to a predictive to a prescriptive model when it comes to tariffs and their business impact, right? By that, what I mean is just to break it down in layman terms. Descriptive is what's happening with tariffs, right? Ai, data can actually give you those insights as to what's going on when you move from descriptive to predictive. You can use data to analyze what is going to happen right in the future, right? So with tariffs kicking in, how are things going to change? Right? That is something that you can go from a descriptive to a predictive phase, and then when you go to the next level, which is prescriptive, that's where the magic happens, right? Prescriptive is the phase wherein, if what you have predicted happens, what are you going to do about it? Right? What are the actions that you're going to take about it, right? So these are the three phases that we have in our mind as we view tariffs as a business problem, and then how does that manifest as a solution? Right? So you want to have the you want to have a better grip on demand, on supply, on pricing, and you want to have, like, competitive rates and stuff bearing in mind that demand, that supply and the pricing, right? So that is what it will enable equipment, equipment financers to achieve by using data. So that's the first part of the three areas that I wanted to cover, right data. AI, I mean, obviously with tariffs kicking in. I mean, more people will want financing, but it will be harder to get right. Yeah, yeah. So, so that's where AI comes in. You want to do credit scoring, you want to kind of mitigate your risk. You want to monitor your portfolio, right? You want to de risk your portfolio. So that's where AI can play a very active role, and you can ensure that those who are deserving, those who have the credit worthiness, do get approved, right in spite of the tariffs at at higher prices, and the credit scoring and the credit decisioning becomes much, much better, yeah, so that's the second perspective I have on the AI pillar. Out of the three pillars that I spoke about, right? We first covered data. Second, we spoke about AI. And the third thing, from our standpoint and our vantage point, is CRM, right. So by that, what I mean is customer relationship management. Think about software like Salesforce. Think about software like dynamics, right? So, if you are a broker, if you are a lender, if you are a lessor, if you are a captive, if you are a non captive, right? If you are an OEM, all of the businesses, right? They have their single source of truth, which is their customer relationship management. So in the age of tariffs, or when we are talking about tariffs and the impact to the equipment finance industry, we want to ensure that you are personalizing for your end customers, right. So the personalization can only happen if you have solid customer relationship management, right? So I'll give you an example. So if you are a manufacturer in the age of higher tariffs, right, you might offer like a 0% interest deal. You might offer like a longer payment plan, right? So if you want to compete with manufacturers, with OEMs, right? If you're a finance company, if you're a non bank, or a non captive or a bank, how do you compete with your with the OEMs who are offering these kind of deals when the tariffs increase? So in that case, right? You can have personalized finance deals chopped out using the power of your CRM, if you know your customer, your end customer, well, if you know your end customer better, right? You can use that for personalized finance, and that's what CRM can help you achieve, right, right? Quinn, right. So that's our vantage point. Hopefully that was helpful. I tried to break it down into simple terms, and I tried to break technology and AI down into three areas, right, our perspective on data, our perspective on AI and our perspective on CRM and how they come together, right, to ensure that you can have like competitive rates offered. You can have personalized finance offered, and you can compete. You can do better credit scoring. In credit risking, and you can run your business better, yeah,no, that's super interesting. And I haven't even thought about the point of how, you know, as these tariffs kind of create these challenges, how, how? Yeah, using AI to make effective credit decisions, right? How that could become, you know, increasingly important. And one thing I was wondering, as far as the as far as like data collection to train the AI on, I'm wondering if there are any kind of previous global events that we can maybe turn to as examples, right, like, for instance, like the pandemic, right? Like the we did, obviously different, but some of those challenges that we saw there, as far as you know, supply chain disruptions, those are some, some like possible outcomes with the tariffs and stuff as well. So wondering if, you know, we if there's any opportunity there to use data from previous global events to help equipment finance navigate some of these challenges.Great question. Quinn, and I mean, you got it spot on, right? We experienced supply chain issues. We experienced issues towards operational efficiency at the backdrop of COVID, which is relatively recent event, five to four years ago, right? So we have seen that. So, I mean, we might experience that right with with our country negotiating with other countries in terms of the reciprocal tariffs and stuff. I mean, a lot of decisions are going to be made. Manufacturers might shift countries, and they might set up factories elsewhere, hopefully here in the US. So we might experience based on the demand, right, based on certain types of equipment which is in high demand, to your point. And just like you mentioned, I think we are most likely to experience supply chain issues, disruption, operational efficiencies and stuff. So I think that's exactly where AI can can come in, and you can kind of optimize your inventory, right? So at data cream, for example, we get into discussions where you're talking about trunk stock in terms of mid devices, inventory management and stuff like that. So you want to ensure that high ticket items or items which a lot of businesses need, which are in high demand, are easier. I mean, you're not. They're not spending time sitting in, sitting on the shelf somewhere, right? Likewise. I mean, if you can, if you can understand that, hey, I mean, there's going to be this disruption, or the manufacturers is going to make some strategic decisions. I mean, that's where you can use AI and ensure that, basically, the operational efficiency is their supply chain issues are mitigated. So absolutely. I mean, I think we can look at those prior events like COVID, we can look at those macro scenarios, right to ensure that they are not entering into the same territory and they're not getting impacted by those same kind of issues due to tariffs. So, yeah, absolutely, I think it, I think it definitely can help, absolutely,yeah, and I mean even tariffs too, right? Because, I mean Trump, he imposed tariffs during his first term as well. Obviously, maybe not to this, this degree, but, but, you know, I think there's some, some precedent there. And one thing I'm wondering, if, for maybe those, those lenders out there who maybe they just, they're new to AI, they haven't used it very much. And, you know, I think about some of those relatively simple AI tools out there, like, large language models, right? I'm wo...

Johnnie Martinez 0:06 All right. On today's episode of the Dig, I am joined by Ivan Franklin of Mitsubishi HC Capital America and I will let him introduce himself further. Ivan Franklin 0:15 Yeah. So obviously, I'm, I'm Ivan Franklin. As Johnny just mentioned, I'm the the VP of Business Development focusing on new OEM finance partnerships for Mitsubishi HC Capital America. I've been with the company now and it's kind of crazy to think, but it'll be 12 years coming up in September. That's been through a couple different iterations. We work Creek grids and we're about by Hitachi. Got you. Then we're about by Mitsubishi, so there's been changes too, but I've been. I've been here for all of those. So it's been a great experience know I currently report to our Itasca IL Office, but I I work out of my home here in Stillwater, MN. So you got me on a good day because the sun's been shining the last couple days, which we haven't seen in about 3. So energy levels are high, but yeah, that's that's my my, my background for my, for myself, I've probably been in. Construction financing now for seven to eight years. I didn't start there in equipment finance, but that's where I've been. And you know, I've learned a lot. I think it's a great industry and I'm excited to continue my career and and growth within this industry as well. Johnnie Martinez 1:16 OK. Ivan Franklin 1:21 And you know, no. Go ahead, Johnny. Sorry. Johnnie Martinez 1:27 You rob the construction industry specifically and that's kind of going to be our focus here today. And you know one of the reports that the Mitsubishi HC Capital America put out. Ivan Franklin 1:33 Yeah. Johnnie Martinez 1:38 Back in January was some of the trends to identify, but I wanted to get your take on it. As someone who's a lot more in in the trenches, in terms of what the? You know, construction industry should be expecting for the rest of this year and sort of what are those key trends to to watch. Ivan Franklin 1:58 Yeah. You know, there's a a handful of trends that that we're kind of seeing out there. I think the first one we saw on the latter part of 2024 and it's going to, I think continue to creep into 2025 and that's just a little, you know, economic uncertainty and some slowness in the market. You know inflation still here I think. From an anecdotal standpoint, we're still seeing some equipment purchases drag on or some finance quotas that out there longer than normal, right? So I'm hoping that's not going to be the case. 25 But that's kind of what we've seen. And my next point. I'm proud of myself. It took me all but a minute and a half to shamelessly plug some financing, but I think there's going to be a continued shift towards flexible finance offerings. We're already seeing it now and I think we'll continue to see it, but an increase in in appetite for FMB leases and operating leases since they provide the most flexibility and typically have the, the lowest monthly payment and then maybe some structured finance. Solutions and when I say that I mean things with skipped payments or seasonal payment streams on on loans and leases, things that match the cash flow cycle of businesses, we'll see too. Other things are growth in the rental industry. I think we probably say that year after year, but it's going to be the the case this year as well. It's a continually growing market and again for some of the same reasons, right. I think it's more flexible for customers and also can be cost effective since you're paying for the use of the equipment. Ment electrification is going to be a big one. You know all the OEMs out there have some form of electric piece of equipment that there's, you know, big marketing push behind. And then lastly just increased adoption of technology. So things like AI telematics and automation. Johnnie Martinez 3:49 That that makes a ton of sense. And yeah, it's a lot of the the same themes behind all the the trends, right. It's about meeting these these user needs these customer demands and getting exactly what they kind of need depending on where their business is going. All right. Ivan Franklin 4:05 Exactly. Johnnie Martinez

Johnnie Martinez 0:04 On today's episode of the Dig, I am joined by Declan North of Tarrick Financial Services and I will let him introduce himself and go deeper into his background. North, Declan 0:13 Johnny, thanks very much. Obviously Declan North and Global Director of Trade and financial Services for tariffs financial services, looking after the Materials processing Division materials processing is one of the two segments or one of the three segments of the Terex Corp, which is quite a diverse segment. I have been with financial services. Now I'm heading into the 10th year, so only feels like yesterday when I joined. I'm an Irishman from the accent, I'm sure you can detect, but based in the UK and I covered a globe from my little office here in Chinar in Oxford. So delighted to be on and look forward to this podcast. Johnnie Martinez 1:03 Fantastic. Well, it's great to have you. I'm glad we were able to get connected and. You know, I think it's important to talk about everything you guys are doing, especially, you know you look at it from a a global scale, this industry is changing so much all the time. You know the individual lending segments and then the wider lending space from where you sit in the role you have, you know what makes kind of your job at Terex Financial Services unique and what makes the the division you cover so so unique in the space? North, Declan 1:34 Oh, that's that's that's really the $6 million question. I'll tell you why I love the job I it is the uniqueness of it. So Terrib financial services, we are the captive arm, but we don't operate on books. So we operate with a number of funding partners. What makes my role really unique is that when I say it's a global role, most people show that global role into their title. But this is truly a global role. So. Material processing cell or have dealers or provide facilities? I have an involvement in it and that's from the start right through to the finish. So it's a really integrated job. I get to see different cultures. So last year I was in Australia, I was in India, I was in Dubai. You don't know where you're going to find yourself, which means that you're not just restricted. To one area or one segment or one territory. You've gotta get a broader understanding of the different cultural and we may talk the same language, but there's different variances and cultural differences as you go from country to country, region to region. So you know, that's what makes it quite unique. What makes Turks material processing unique is we're made-up of about 2627 different business units, each one of them has a different requirement. It's quite a diverse portfolio of businesses and that's what makes it really interesting. So you get to see. You know. Concrete mixer truck. You get to see a volumetric mixer truck. You get to see a shredder, you get to see Crane, you get to see material handler. You get to see a crusher or a power screen or Finley crushing screen. And so it's really quite diverse. Eve equip screeners no two days are the same and no, no. Same. No two hours are the same, let alone 2 days of the same. So that's what makes it really exciting. And we work with a great crew. You know, our guys are really, really professional. They're they're long term employees that have a really passionate feel about the business and I suppose we're the same, whether it's the financial services, whether it's the equipment side, you really are ingrained in the business and kind of passionate about it. Johnnie Martinez 4:07 That's you OK11 other question. I was gonna wanna ask, and I was gonna have this at the end, but I'll. I'll go ahead and do it here because of what you're just talking about. You know, I've had the luxury of talking with a lot of people who operate in this industry, especially at the the United States domestic level. Or, you know, they'll do some international stuff with Canada or Mexico with you operating on this global level, right? What advice would you give to someone who's kind of stepping into that? Level of equipment finance and starting to operate in that world as far as you know a global. Level of transactions and interacting with people all around the world versus maybe just Aus or just auk. Just a domestic transactions. North, Declan 4:47 Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. And it's quite funny. So to kind of give you a little bit of history, I I moved to the UK 14 years ago. So up until then. All my working life had been in Ireland. Expect that you move to the UK. That would be fairly similar to Arlington. The similarity was kind of the language. You know the products were slightly different. The the actual. Way people transacted was totally different. So it was the first kind of eye opener. And then as I moved to the UK and I started having a kind of more of an international role, the advice I would give is embrace the local culture and get to know that. Local culture before. Trying to predetermine what you want to offer, because once again, you know, they may have the same. Products, but the delivery of those products or the the local way of dealing is is different, you know Middle East is totally different to India, which is totally different to China, which is totally different states, which is totally different to Europe, you know and that that was one. Of the things I think over the last 14 years. That is really struck home with me is. Understand who you're dealing with and understand the culture, because I think that's that's the first step to actually making it a success, because if you get to know that person or get to know their culture and accept and embrace, it makes a big difference. A simple little thing. Irish people tend to talk very fast. Slow down, you know. I mean, I know you're there. You go that you know, if you had to set that to be 14 years ago. Johnnie Martinez 6:31 That. North, Declan 6:35 Yeah. No, I don't know what you're talking about. But yeah, you know it's that would be my my best advice. Look at the target market. Look at the culture. Understand the culture. I'll tell you a funny story, but I went and started doing business in India. First I sat in the meeting and the Indian people are fantastic. People are absolutely lovely people, but they don't like to say no and you know, I came away thinking, wow, that was really good and really, you know. Really easy and when I got back to the UKI started sending my follow up emails, you know, kind of this what we're going to go. Oh, no, we can't really do that. And I was kind of going, you should have told me that when I was down there, but my local guys were kind of gone. They didn't want to offend you and then kind of go well. You know, I'm usually. I'm not usually offended so. Prefer to talk direct, but that was an eye opener for me. You know, 'cause, I came away thinking I had agreed something, but I agreed nothing and I had to go back and start all over again, you know. So that was that was a really big learning experience, but I've enjoy...

Todd Backman, President and CEO of Florida Coast Equipment and Big Orange Rental, discusses how they prepared for and managed the impact of hurricanes on their dealership and rental operations. They prioritize the safety of their employees and customers, prepping their stores and equipment for potential damage. They also ensure that essential equipment like generators and chainsaws are available in affected areas. The response to the hurricanes is ongoing, with some areas still underwater and ongoing demand for equipment. The rental business has seen increased demand, with priority given to existing accounts. Welcome to The Dig, where equipment finance news editors connect with industry leaders and dealers to discuss news analysis, market trends, tips, and more. I am Johnny Martinez II, Senior Associate Editor of Equipment Finance News, the one news source for both dealers and lenders. And on today's episode of The Dig, I'm joined by Todd Backman, President and CEO of Florida Coast Equipment and Big Organe Rental, and I'll let Todd introduce himself. Thanks for joining us today. Yeah. Happy to be here. Yeah. I'm Todd, President of Florida Coast and President and CEO of Florida Coast Equipment and Big Orange Rental. We are a 14-location Kubota dealership as well as Big Orange Rental, which is our rental arm. But even that is predominantly Kubota equipment, focusing in Florida. We have stores from Ocala to the Keys, which is basically three-quarters of the 80% of the population in Florida, 260 employees, and I'm excited to have a conversation today about what's going on in the industry. Fantastic. Well, again, thank you so much for joining us. And, you know, you talked about it so much of what, well, everything you guys do is based in the Florida region, which has been drastically impacted by not one but two hurricanes that have come through. And so with the Florida market being impacted by these hurricanes, first off, how did you guys prepare to kind of manage the situation both at the dealership level and at the rental level because there's some subtle differences between the two? Yeah. Yeah. So, look, the first and foremost we want to do is go, okay, guys, let's look at this from the human perspective. What do the individuals need to do at home? And so what we try to do, which can be fairly disruptive, is that anything that's in the cone kind of four days out, you know, four to five days out, we start prepping the store no matter where it is. And so if there's a chance that it's going to get affected, we start prepping the store. And that is literally, you know, getting machines off of racks and getting things down, anything that can fly away or become a projectile, get it on the ground, get it inside, making sure crates are cleaned up, making sure trash is cleaned up, just kind of the really basics. And what we try to do is get in front of that so that when we're 24 hours out, people can go home and get their homes ready because a lot of times the people are waiting for the last minute to do their homes, but we try to get in front of it from the dealership perspective so that people can get out and take care of their homes. The other thing we do is that, you know, if the East Coast isn't going to get affected, but the West Coast is, whether it's grapplers, generators, chainsaws, we try to get that stuff to the affected markets as quickly as possible. And kind of the way that goes is really the five days leading up to a storm, you're going to sell generators, you're going to sell chainsaws, that's what it's going to be, gas cans, whatever is essential to kind of get through that initial wave. And so we try to get that stuff in quickly. Molly and her team are working on the marketing side to make sure folks know what we have and what we don't have because gas cans, you may have a floor full of gas cans and two days later you have no gas cans. You may have generators and then you don't have them. It just is a matter of how quickly these things go. And so that's kind of the first run. Then right before the storm it's, you know, making sure that we have everybody's phone number, know where everybody's going. I usually am the first one in and so I'll usually go in and maybe another member of our team will go in. We find a hotel close to what we believe is going to be the most affected area. We're going in to make sure that we have Starlinks ready to go coming out of the storm and things like that. So we want to kind of get in as quickly as possible. First and foremost, we're trying to check with our staff as quickly as we can, hey, is everybody safe? Everybody good to go? Then we're looking at our facilities. And then the immediate thing is like, okay, guys, this is go time. You know, we get up in the morning and say we're going to deliver superior customer service on rival product support every day. You find out whether you really believe that or whether you're able to do that after a storm because guys are putting together machines without power there. You're doing contracts without power. You have no internet. You have no phones. I mean, you go third world country really quickly after a storm and so anything we can do on the front end to prepare for that is simple. I mean, things as simple as price books. In the old days, you had paper price books. Now everything's online so we're making sure that we're downloading price books coming out of making sure that if we have no power, we have no internet, that we can still get it. And if you haven't lived through a storm, I mean, when the cell towers go, I mean, you have nothing. I mean, you have Starlink and that's it. People don't realize. You know, the old days you had paper contracts and you had paper quotes and all that. You don't have any of that. Everything is electronic now so you've got to figure out how to operate back in the dark ages again when this happens. And so anything you can do to prepare for that is what we're spending our time on. Gotcha. And, you know, now we're a few months removed. How has the response sort of been at the dealership level both in terms of, hey, here's what we've done to kind of move forward and get our operations going, but also, you know, now we're starting to get to the back end of it. We're returning to whatever normal is at this point, right, because they try to get back to 100% normal. Yeah. So this storm was really strange. One, the devastation was way worse than what the media covered. Obviously things in North Carolina had been so bad that what happened here was small. But, I mean, it's – look, we're talking November 15th today. We still have communities that are still underwater from that storm. So we haven't come out of it. There was – you know, there was a couple of pictures of the Tampa Bay Stadium and things like that. But that really wasn't the damage. If you live in the northeast, you'll probably understand this best, is that, you know, usually after a big snowstorm, the main highways, they get clear really quickly and they look good. But the side roads were a disaster for weeks. That's really where we are right now. The main roads are clear, but there were tons of coastal flooding damage done. This storm did not bring the normal wind damage that you see in a lot of places. But it was tons of flooding, tons of inland flooding, and the damage on this was not – you didn't look at one area and it'd just be devastated. You would drive two hours over a big rainstorm and then you'd show up and it looked like you had a massive flood. It didn't look like a hurricane, it looked like a massive flood. Then you'd drive across to Vero and, I mean, the tornadoes just wiped the place out. And so, you know, it's been spotty as far as how do you recover from that. So what we didn't get was that normal deal where, you know, you'd have massive powder towerages, they'd build one for weeks and things like that. So yo...

There are two keys to success in the equipment finance industry in a high interest rate environment: adequate vetting and balanced partnerships. Partnerships in the industry are the best means for companies to meet their goals and objectives, but aligning the partners' goals equally remains key, Brian Rosa, president of commercial finance at Mitsubishi HC Capital America, tells Equipment Finance News in this episode of “The Dig” podcast. Brian Rosa became president of commercial finance following the April 1, 2023 merger of Mitsubishi HC Capital America, ENGS Commercial Finance and Mitsubishi HC Capital (USA), operating under the name Mitsubishi HC Capital America, and over the past seventeen months, Mitsubishi HC Capital America announced several new partnerships. Mitsubishi HC Capital America recently partnered with the PulPac and the Seismic Group to finance sustainability equipment and technology, according to a Sept. 10 release. “Generally, both companies’ goals and objectives need to be aligned, and it's also important that the benefits derived from the partnership are equitable for each party,” he says. “I don't think I've seen too many partnerships where one party is getting considerably more benefit than the other. Those partnerships typically just don't work out in the long term, so we want to make sure we're aligned and we're each getting equal benefits.” Another key component of equipment finance partnerships is developing partnerships that can exist across both strong and weak business cycles, Rosa says. “The higher interest rates coupled with inflation have created challenges for many companies, and it's led to some volatility in certain sectors, so when we partner with someone, we want to know we'll be able to count on them just as they would expect to count on us through the ups and downs.” Tune in to the newest episode of “The Dig” to hear from Rosa about equipment finance partnerships, market outlook and market opportunities.

Equipment financiers face exposure issues in key segments as pandemic-era risk management decisions continue to become portfolio problems. While the pandemic-era supply shortages drove up used-equipment values, units financed at those higher values now represent delinquency and risk management issues, RJ Grimshaw, chief revenue officer at Orion First and former president and chief executive at UniFi Equipment Finance tells Equipment Finance News on this episode of “The Dig” podcast. “Everyone's portfolio performance over the last, [lets] call it five to seven years has been spectacular; better than historical average,” Grimshaw says. “Everyone was just focused on the origination aspect and how much capital can we deploy at a pace because that's where it's at. But, he says, “They took their eye off the portfolio management aspects and risk mitigation part of the business, and, suddenly, they started exposing these issues because they weren't focused on that.” Grimshaw had a 27-year career in the equipment finance industry, including a decade at Unifi before joining Seattle-based Orion First in July, a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer. Tune in to hear more about equipment finance people management, portfolio management, and risk management in the first episode of “The Dig,” formerly known as “Equipment Connect.”