Ally Financial recorded $1.2 billion of overall profit last year, on the heels of a $157 million loss in 2011, according to the lender’s latest earnings report. Ally’s auto finance line of business posted a $1.4 billion profit, up $56 million – 4% – from the prior year.
For the fourth quarter, Ally (www.ally.com) originated $8.9 billion of auto loans and leases, down from $9.2 billion in 4Q11. Of last quarter’s total, the breakdown was as follows: $4.7 billion for new-vehicle retail loans, $2.1 billion for used-vehicle retail loans, and $2.1 billion for leases. The lease volume was up 60% year over year.
Due to pending sales agreements, Ally Financial’s international operations – including auto finance arms in Canada, Europe, Latin America and a joint venture in China – are deemed “held-for-sale” and reported as discontinued operations. As such, Ally’s auto finance segment has been restructured to include its U.S. auto finance operations and a small amount of non-U.S. operations in the process of running-off, said the statement.
