THE recognition was presented last week at the Motor Finance Europe Awards in Munich, Germany, where industry news service Motor Finance acknowledged the achievements of the European motor finance industry in 2014.

The ‘Captive Finance Company of the Year’ award recognises the increasing importance of finance companies to the manufacturers in supporting overall car sale volumes and is based on the judgment of a panel of independent industry experts.

Judges took into account the business performance in terms of finance penetration within the manufacturer brand, support of the sales of the manufacturer parent company, as well as business development and innovation and overall were impressed with what they found at GM Financial.

Jonathan Minter, Motor Finance editor, said;

“The judges felt that GM Financial was the worthy winner in this category, given the challenges presented by the ownership changes the company has gone through over the recent years, they were particularly impressed that it was able to report strong growth and remain more than a competitive lender in the market.”

Following the acquisition by GM Financial two years ago, the company, operating in the UK under the Vauxhall Finance and GMAC brands, had the opportunity to reinvent itself as a new, more agile auto finance company and started off on a transformational path towards becoming more supplier of choice than simply the in-house captive.

Ed Paulat, GM Financial executive vice president and GMAC UK managing director, added;

“We are very proud of this recognition for our performance. Being named outstanding in the captive industry is a great honour.

“We obviously are on the right path and will keep our sharp focus on helping GM/Vauxhall and our business partners in the UK sell more cars.”