Daimler Financial Services More Than Doubles Mobile Services Usage

Daimler Financial Services, the banking and finance unit of German car maker Daimler, is on track for another record year thanks to new 2017 leasing and financing contracts for loans.

According to a news report in Reuters, Daimler Financial Services — which is in charge of customer services and lending for the carmaker — said it anticipates a significant uptick in new business in 2017, as well as continued growth in leasing and finance contracts for loans. This lending growth is thanks, in large part, to the sale of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars.

For the first six months of 2017, ending in June, new business in the lending unit increased by 19 percent to 34.7 billion euros, and earnings before interest and tax increased 15 percent to 1.05 billion, reported Reuters. Among global financed and leased vehicles, Daimler’s portfolio increased 17 percent to 4.6 million vehicles, with a total sales value of 134 billion euros.

Daimler Financial Services said it more than doubled the number of its customers around the globe using its mobile services, including its Car2Go car sharing program, which reaches approximately 14.5 million people.

Daimler Financial has been pushing forward into the mobile payment market, acquiring Luxembourg-based mobile payments solutions and eWallet technology provider PayCash Europe for an undisclosed sum in January. Daimler Group said it will use the acquisition of PayCash to develop and build its own electronic payment service, building upon PayCash Europe’s existing platform.

Dubbed Mercedes Pay, the mobile payment method will be incorporated into the Daimler Mobility Services branch, which already includes car-share venture Car2Go and European mobile taxi application mytaxi. Daimler reports that in 2016, its financial services branch — Daimler Financial Services AG — boasted more than four million financed vehicles in its portfolio. The company plans to use the new payment system to facilitate these and other financing transactions in the future.