This month saw the second Leasing Circle take place, a forum for the Acquis Lumia community to come together to discuss the issue of fraud , credit decisioning and borrowing trends in the asset finance industry.
One of the key topics of conversation is Lumia, the industry-wide register that has been developed by Acquis Data Services to identify suspicious, irregular or changes in borrowing patterns.
Attendees including Whiteoak, Siemens, Shawbrook, Shire Leasing and Investec are all here to talk about Lumia and how their organisations have incorporated it into in their day-to-day operations. There are twice as many attendees as the inaugural event in 2023, a positive indication of how this community is growing, and there’s a real buzz in the room – it’s clear that funders are using Lumia for more than just detecting suspicious borrowing behaviour, namely helping the sector to make more informed decisions.
The day’s session starts with an update on Lumia and an overview on the developments that are being made to the platform. There is also a review of the number of companies who are now using Lumia – with over 30 lenders on board to date, the platform is already processing data from 50% of the asset finance market, with a further 14 lenders who will be implementing the solution in the coming months.
Around the packed room, people are keen to talk about how they’re using Lumia, and find out how their peers are using it – and it’s clear that, while fraud prevention is, and always will be a key concern, the platform is also assisting decision making during the underwriting process, with one lessor talking about how they have been able to see, at the click of a button, a client’s other lending liabilities. Another lessor points out that the data Lumia provides helps them make decisions based on their own appetite for risk.
Another topic of conversation around the room is how Lumia has got the industry working together, and it’s clear from attendees that there has been a definite need for this cross industry collaboration. The Arena TV scandal made it clear that the industry needed a solution, and Lumia has delivered, but everyone agrees that it wouldn’t work without the industry coming together to share information in a way never seen before. Another client adds “people are kidding themselves if they think they’re immune to this type of activity” and that we all need to work together to create a community capable of combatting fraud.
The Leasing Circle comes to a close with the agreement that the asset finance industry needs to get behind Lumia as a collective. It’s two years since the germ of the idea for the platform originated and some really good headway has been made. Securing contribution from over 50% of the industry is a significant watershed moment in Lumia’s history, and the feedback that its data delivers beyond fraud detection is welcome, but the room agrees that we cannot stop here – the industry collaboration that has been so vital to the development of Lumia is a powerful force and with this consensus it’s recognised that this is just the start of the story for Lumia.
For more information about Lumia, click here.
