Mercedes 2006 Annual Report Download - page 111

Divisions |Financial Services |95
Within the framework of our strategy for Europe, we intensified
cooperation in the 20 European markets in which we operate. In
2006, we worked on further aligning the processes and systems
for loan approval, risk management and refinancing. We also devel-
oped a more standardized range of products and a more uniform
customer-relations policy. We expanded our product range through-
out Europe for leasing, financing, insurance and fleet manage-
ment. At the end of 2006, we managed a portfolio of €11.2 billion
in Western Europe excluding Germany (2005: €10.9 billion).
In Germany, DaimlerChrysler Bank further improved its market
position. Contract volume at our biggest European company rose
by 5% to€16.0 billion. DaimlerChrysler Bank welcomed its one-
millionthcustomer in May2006. Since entering the direct banking
market four years ago, the bank more than doubled its number
of customers. In the year under review, DaimlerChrysler Bank laid
the groundwork to utilize the Basel II internal ratings-based
approach in its leasing and financing business in 2007. This ad-
vanced credit-risk assessment method will further strengthen
our competitive position.
By establishing the new Fuso Financial business unit in October
2005, DaimlerChrysler Financial Services expanded its financing
activities for commercial vehicles in Japan. In September 2006,
Fuso Financial completed the rollout of its financial products for
Mitsubishi Fuso’s entire dealership network in Japan. The focus
is now on providing financial services to customers throughout
the country. With this goal in mind, Mitsubishi Fuso and Fuso
Financial are jointly developing attractive products tailored to cus-
tomers’ needs.
Since the establishment of DaimlerChrysler Automotive Finance
(China) Ltd. one year ago, we have succeeded in expanding our
business operations with customers from three to a total of 15
major metropolitan areas in China. Our activities focus on pro-
viding support to the dealership network throughout the country.
In this way, Financial Services is making an important contri-
bution to DaimlerChrysler’s penetration of the Chinese market.
Contract volume in China totaled €105 million at the end of 2006.
Successful development of insurance services. The
establishment of our center of competence “Automotive Insur-
ance” enabled us to conclude important master agreements
with insurance companies around the globe during the year under
review. These agreements have already led to the significant
expansion of business volumes in key markets such as France and
Mexico and have also helped our smaller subsidiaries to gain
access to favorable conditions and to improve their market posi-
tion. Examples here include Sweden, Switzerland and Hungary.
Our aim is to offer all of our leasing and financing customers around
the world a competitive payment protection insurance policy.
Fleetmanagement solutions gain importance for commercial
customers. The Fleet Management unit increased the number
of vehicles in its total fleet by10% to 462,100 units in 2006. We
began intensifying the links between passenger-car and commer-
cial-vehicle fleet management in the areas of contract processing
and customer care. The focus is on achieving even more inte-
gration with the sales activities of all the Group’s automotive brands.
Wenow offer fleet management services to our customers in
13 countries around the world.
Toll Collect system running smoothly. The toll collection system
in Germany for trucks over 12 metric tons gross vehicle weight
continued tooperatereliably and smoothly after the conversion
from on-board unit 1 (OBU 1) to OBU 2 was completed as planned
at the beginning of 2006. The Toll Collect system registered a total
of 25.8 billion kilometers traveled in Germany in 2006, with
546,000 on-board units in use at the end of the year. Daimler-
Chrysler Financial Services owns a 45% share in the Toll Collect
consortium.
DaimlerChrysler Financial Services
provides the right financial services for each
vehicle in the Group - already for more
than three million customers worldwide.