JM Family Enterprises Inc. is consolidating its two financial lending brands under a single name by dropping World Omni Financial Corp. from its branding in favor of the title Southeast Toyota Finance, the company told Auto Finance News.
Although the World Omni Financial Corp. name will generally disappear from the company’s public and corporate materials, the name will still appear on Wall Street, according to an initial report from Automotive News.
As of the fourth quarter 2017, World Omni held $9.8 billion outstanding in its portfolio — an 8.3% increase year over year according to S&P’s pre-sale report for the company’s latest securitization from January. The company’s credit performance has “weakened” according to the report, which noted delinquencies as a percentage of the portfolio rose to 2% up from 1.7% the same period the year prior.
Many had considered World Omni to be a broader lender in the space while Southeast Toyota Finance had the perception of just being the captive lending arm. Moving forward the company hopes to meld those two concepts and bring it under the singular Southeast Toyota Finance brand, according to Automotive News.
The company first launched its finance arm as World Omni Financial Corp. back in 1981 and in 1996 added the Southeast Toyota Finance brand to offer personalized support to Toyota dealers in the region. JM Family is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and is changing it materials and customer care centers to reflect the new branding. The company’s broader operations will not be changed, just the name that consumers and dealer customers see.
