Brendan Gleeson

White Clarke gives FGA Capital a "speed to market"

First published by Asset Finance International, February 2010

FGA Capital (formerly Fiat Auto Financial Services), a joint venture between Fiat Group Automobiles and Credit Agricole, has implemented White Clarke Group’s (WCG) CALMS point-of-sale system within part of its retail operation.

FGA has recently taken over the funding responsibilities for Jaguar Land Rover and required an efficient solution to provide finance at the point-of-sale. It also needed to be implemented speedily.

Brendan Gleeson, WCG’s sales and marketing director explained that the challenge was effectively “an immovable deadline” with just a three-month delivery window. “It was,” he stressed, “inclusive of system customisation and testing.”

WCG’s CALMS software has long been a definitive system for the automotive industry. It consists of a selection of front and back-office modules that can stand alone – or integrate within existing solutions. Gleeson added: “Truly web based, it automates and optimises processes whilst at the same time offering a single customer view.”

CALMS supports multiple business channels allowing captives, dealers, brokers and finance companies to configure vehicles directly. “As part of an organic process,” he added, “they can obtain finance and leasing quotes and process credit submissions automatically.”

In addition to retail finance, FGA Capital specialises in providing a range of dealer facilities including new and used vehicle stocking finance, spare parts finance, working capital funding, medium and long-term finance as well as auto demonstrator and courtesy car finance.

It is active through its controlled companies in some 15 European countries. It manages all the main financial activities of Fiat Group Automobiles and Jaguar Land Rover especially those related to the financing of their dealer networks.

Brian Williams, FGA Capital commercial director explained: “It is a huge step forward and our people are very happy with it. It is completely web-based and we have real control. It’s a significant advantage as we are able to make changes to it ourselves. Being able to configure the system internally gives us that all-important speed to market.”