The bank established the Aviation Finance division in 2023. What are the reasons for taking this step? Richard Moody HCOB has built a strong reputation in asset- and corporate-based financing, but it exited aviation over 12 years ago. Aviation is complementary to other businesses, such as real estate and shipping. By establishing the business, HCOB has been able to diversify by gaining both a new business line and geographical earnings given the global nature of the industry. In addition, Covid led to substantial amounts of deferred investments. With the industry’s recovery, there is and will be a need for capital to support the growth of the broader industry going forward.

Why is the aviation business attractive for the bank? RM The aviation sector requires a significant amount of capital across a wide variety of areas, from asset-backed to corporate cashflow financing in order to support airlines, lessors and manufacturers. There is also a broader opportunity across the entire aviation eco-system covering not only commercial and freighter aircraft, but engines, spares, flight training, airport ground handling and so on. When you look at the industry holistically, there are attractive opportunities to deploy capital across multiple sub-sectors and geographies. What is the bank’s strategy in Aviation? RM Given our size we want to be selective in terms of where we provide financing and be relevant to our client base by serving as a constructive solutions provider. HCOB Aviation Finance has assembled a very experienced team that understands structured finance and capital markets, so we can grow with our clients across the broader aviation eco-system. There will also be more opportunistic situations where we can capture value. We aim to be as flexible and nimble as possible in order to create win-win situations. Are there regions or aircraft types that the bank will focus on? RM The industry is global and so by definition we will consider transactions across all jurisdictions. In addition to countries and regions where HCOB is familiar, for instance Western Europe, the business will be able to look more broadly at countries that it is less familiar with by writing diversified multi-lessee portfolio financing transactions. This will give us the ability to enhance our returns and diversify earnings.