Foreign financial types similar to China's enterprise group financial companies appeared as early as the beginning of the 20th century, mainly including the American model and the British model.
1. American model financial company
Similar to the financial companies of China Enterprise Group, the financial companies of American model are non-bank financial institutions characterized by invigorating commodity circulation and promoting commodity sales. It belongs to manufacturers and is a controlled subsidiary established by some large durable consumer goods manufacturers to promote their products. This kind of financial companies mainly provide financing services for retailers, mainly distributed in the United States, Canada and Germany. At present, the total industrial assets of American finance companies exceed $800 billion, and the financial services of finance companies in the circulation field involve almost all goods from automobiles, household appliances, houses to various industrial equipment, which has played a very important role in promoting the circulation of goods.
2. British model finance company
Basically, they are attached to commercial banks, and the purpose of their formation is to escape the government's supervision of commercial banks. Because the government expressly stipulates that commercial banks are not allowed to engage in securities investment business and financial companies are not banks, they are not subject to this restriction. This kind of financial companies are mainly distributed in Britain, Japan and Hong Kong.
(2) Comparison
1. The business scope is not limited by regions and industries.
Although the financial company under the American model is subordinate to the manufacturer and closely cooperates with the sales strategy and actions of the parent company, it has no responsibility and obligation to carry out productive financing for the parent company and its subsidiaries, nor is it the internal bank or settlement center of the parent company. Its typical business is to provide credit services to distributors (wholesalers, retailers) and end users (industrial equipment users and consumers). Credit methods include inventory of dealers, mortgage of accounts receivable, purchase of accounts receivable, credit for purchase of users and installment payment of lease. At present, under the competitive pressure of registered banks, trust companies, mortgage companies and other financial institutions, financial companies have also begun to operate commercial banking businesses such as general commercial credit, long-term mortgage loans in construction industry, and bill discount, and such businesses are gradually occupying a dominant position.
2. Capital mainly comes from capital market and money market. Western developed countries have developed capital markets and money markets, so their financial companies can easily raise funds in the financial markets. According to American law, financial companies cannot absorb savings and trusts for financing. Therefore, the funds of American financial companies are mainly obtained through other financing methods other than savings and trust, such as issuing commercial paper. Issuing commercial paper is the main financing method of financial companies, and commercial paper accounts for more than 1/3 of the total debt structure of financial companies. Finance companies account for more than 3/4 of the short-term debt structure, while medium-and long-term debts are mainly issued in the capital market, and bank loans account for a relatively small proportion, which usually does not exceed 65,438+00% of the total liabilities of finance companies. The financial company affiliated to the company also obtained a small amount of debt funds from the parent company, accounting for about 10% of the total liabilities of the financial company. The bigger the financial company is, the stronger it is, the greater the proportion of its commercial paper in the financing structure, and the smaller the proportion of its bank loans. For example, in the mid-1990s, the commercial paper issued by General Motors Finance Company accounted for 65,438+00% of the total commercial paper issued by the United States in the same period.
3. Funds are widely used. The funds raised by American model finance companies are mainly to provide credit services to distributors and end users. However, since the 1990s, its capital utilization channels have gradually widened, not only providing credit services for the product circulation of the parent company, but also investing in other industries, products and securities other than the parent company. But in terms of securities investment, financial companies, like general manufacturing companies, belong to general cash management, focusing on security and liquidity.
4. Flexible operating mechanism.
Whether it is an American-model financial company or a British-model financial company, its source of funds is mainly various forms of liabilities, and it has no responsibility and obligation to directly provide financial services to the parent company and its subsidiaries, so its financial leverage is high; In addition, its operating environment is more relaxed and its operating mechanism is more flexible than that of the banking industry. It pays special attention to the safety, liquidity and profitability of the use of credit funds, and pays attention to investing funds in projects with low risk, good liquidity and high returns, which are not limited to the industry or related industries, so its asset use efficiency is higher.