Nissan - Dealership Corridor

Richard Christensen Vice President of Product Development EFG Companies

OEM and Reinsurance veteran leads the next chapter in the company’s heritage of industry-leading innovation

EFG Companies, the innovator behind the award-winning Hyundai Assurance program, announced today the addition of Richard Christensen as Vice President of Product Development. Christensen offers a wealth of direct experience in initiating and launching corporate strategic initiatives with companies like Hyundai Capital America and Nissan North America. In his previous roles, Christensen has overseen the launch of global strategic alliance formations with product, brand development and rollout, in conjunction with development of sales processes, reinsurance models, and regulatory and compliance practices. This experience will be well utilized as he leads the strategic efforts of EFG’s product development team, including product lifecycle and relationship management.

With over 25 years of retail and wholesale automotive and reinsurance experience, Christensen most recently served as a Senior Director at Hyundai Capital America (HCA), where he was responsible for launching and managing a captive insurance subsidiary of HCA. He also served as President, Nissan Global Reinsurance, Ltd based in Bermuda, and functioned as a Sr. Manager of Vehicle Service Contracts for Nissan North America, in Los Angeles.

“Today’s dealers are under an immense amount of pressure, from undertaking stringent compliance initiatives to incentivizing new consumer groups to enter an automotive market with ever higher entry-level price tags,” said John Pappanastos, President and CEO of EFG Companies. “Dealers need agile partners who are constantly looking ahead to see where the industry is going and to look at new challenges as opportunities to increase dealer profitability. At EFG, we consider ourselves one of those partners. The addition of Rick to our leadership team strengthens our position in leading the industry in terms of product innovation and administration of quality consumer protection products that benefit consumers, dealerships and the industry as a whole.”

“Dealerships and lenders need better ways to connect and retain purchase behavior with a more informed and demanding consumer,” said Christensen. “We’re doing very progressive work that is aligned with our goals of leading the industry in focusing on customer service and consumer benefits, with an eye towards compliance and sales process for the dealers and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Contributing Author: John Stephens, Senior Vice President, Dealer Services, EFG Companies

Last month was a big month for the CFPB. The Supreme Court of the United States held in the case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs et al. v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., that “disparate-impact claims are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act.” The CFPB established their Larger Participant Rule, putting captive finance companies under their jurisdiction. And, BB&T announced the launch of a nondiscretionary dealer compensation program that prohibits dealer markup and offers a flat-fee dealer compensation program.

Right now, you can’t read the news without seeing an article about the CFPB and speculation on what the industry will look like in the coming months. Rumors abound that three captives currently under CFPB investigation, Honda, Nissan and Toyota, will cap dealer markup.

Just recently, Honda Finance Corporation reached a resolution with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), where it agreed to change its pricing and compensation system to “substantially reduce dealer discretion and minimize the risks of discrimination,” and to pay $24 million in restitution to affected minority borrowers. While the jury is still out on Nissan and Toyota, lenders have a unique opportunity to take advantage of all this activity.