Inside Flagship Financial’s 2026 priorities with new CEO Landy

Flagship Financial Group in 2026 will revamp originations, grow volume and invest in AI following its acquisition by investment firm InterVest . [caption id="attachment_58359466" align="alignleft" width="156"] Jim Landy[/caption] “We've been working since the acquisition closed on our product fit within today's market,” newly appointed Flagship Chief Executive Jim Landy told Auto Finance News . “We’re getting to a good spot with our indirect dealer product.” Landy became CEO of Flagship in January following the lender’s sale to InterVest and subsequent rebrand from Flagship Credit Acceptance in November 2025. Landy, who had been senior adviser for Car Capital Technologies since March 2023, has held leadership roles in the automotive industry for more than 30 years. In 2010, he founded CarFinance Capital , which was merged into Flagship in 2014 . Growing dealer relationships, originations Chadds Ford, Pa.-based Flagship has a dealer base of more than 13,000 and is working to reestablish and build on those relationships, Landy said. “We're active with around half of those 13,000 dealers, and we will look to fully expand into that base in the next quarter or two,” he said. Because Flagship Financial Group is a new legal entity, it must secure updated licenses to operate in each state. As of late February, Flagship had 87% coverage nationwide. Originations activity had slowed prior to Flagship’s sale and was paused during the acquisition process, Landy said. Flagship’s managed portfolio stood at $3.1 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024, down 14% year over year, according to an S&P Global presale report filed for the company’s most recent auto asset-backed securitization (ABS) deal issued in October 2024. While Landy did not provide origination volume targets, he said that the goal is to return to previous peak volume and “grow from there,” depending on market and credit conditions . Flagship’s originations peaked at about $666.9 million in Q2 2022 before declining due to tightened underwriting in the second half of that year, according to a November 2024 Kroll Bond Rating Agency new issue report of the latest ABS transaction. Originations for the first three quarters of 2024 totaled $573.8 million, a decline of 51% compared with the corresponding period in 2023, according to KBRA. “We have a strong servicing team that has the capacity for growth,” Landy said. “As you think about ramping up originations, to have the servicing capacity ready is a great spot to be. We’re [like] a startup with a 16-year history and tremendous assets to build on.” “We’re [like] a startup with a 16-year history and tremendous assets to build on." -- Jim Landy, Flagship Financial The financier also plans to relaunch its direct auto refinance program this month, he said. “We’re looking forward to getting back into that segment of the market ,” he said. Since its inception in 2011 through Sept. 30, 2024, Flagship originated $11.6 billion in indirect loans and $2.8 billion through the direct program, according to KBRA. For the first half of 2026, Flagship will largely handle funding operations from its office in Tempe, Ariz., with plans to expand to the Dallas region later in 2026, Landy said. Flagship is also building its team to support planned growth and changes in strategy, he said. “We're actively recruiting on a number of fronts. From a sales perspective, we've got a strong core team and we’re looking to broaden our distribution coverage,” he said. “We're focused on recruiting not only sales managers but also funders — the folks that do the underwriting [after] the dealer selects us as a lender.” The tech roadmap As part of its growth plans, Flagship is reviewing its technology stack and roadmap, Landy said. “We're shifting our strategy to focus more on developing solutions internally [and] building our engineering team,” he said, adding that the lender is recruiting a chief technology officer to lead the strategic shift. “A lot of the focus right now is bringing in the right talent to take us through this next chapter.” Flagship is also reviewing how AI can assist in scalability and customer service , Landy said. “We'll probably start on the servicing side this year and then see what additional opportunities there are [on] the origination front next year,” he said. “We’re in the discovery phase.” Auto Finance News will present multiple invaluable events for industry professionals in 2026, starting with Auto Finance Summit East and Auto Finance Capital Summit in May. To see event agendas and register, visit autofinance.live .

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