Bank of the West Eyes Full-Spectrum Lending Amid Auto Business Overhaul

Bank of the West is undertaking an auto finance “transformation,” Vince Rice, the bank’s executive vice president and consumer finance division head, told Auto Finance News.

One specific “big shift in strategy” for Bank of the West is moving toward a preferred lender model, he said, a change that first requires the company to enhance its value proposition to dealers.

“It’s truly a recreation of the business,” Rice said. “It’s everything from the auto loan product, to what [part of] the credit spectrum we want to focus on. It’s a transition from what is essentially a prime lender today, to a full-spectrum lender tomorrow. It’s looking at the products that we currently have — such as leasing — and saying: ‘What is the potential for that product, and how will we create real scalability and usability in the dealers’ hands?’”

However, the shift doesn’t just involve building more full-spectrum capabilities, it’s also about including digital aspects, and learning what’s the most frictionless way to do business with the dealer and their consumers, Rice said.

“Everybody is looking for more speed, more transparency in client transaction, and what this will look like in the future,” he said “So, we think that our timing is good, because we’re making these investments now. We want to do it with both the customer and dealer in mind, so we can find the place for ourselves.”

Currently, the bank has a $5 billion auto portfolio and more than 5,000 dealer relationships, Rice said, but many of those are not deep relationships. “So, we want to move up in the consideration list and make sure that we have the products and services that dealers want to use, and have deeper relationships,” he said, adding that this will probably result in “some segmentation.”