Ford Credit Canada applies for bank status

The Canadian Press is reporting that Ford Credit Canada is applying to become a bank in an effort to access a new funding source.

If accepted as a bank, Ford’s lending arm would, according to the news agency, “be able to accept consumer deposits that would be guaranteed by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp.”

Ford Credit spokeswoman Margaret Mellott told Canadian Press that the goal was to support dealers and customer through offering “a wide variety of funding channels and sources and this is a strategy to diversify our funding.”

Ford Credit Canada had been a major lender and floorplan financer prior to the credit crisis of 2008-09. The financial arm has been providing automotive financing services to 469 dealers and nearly 400,000 customers in Canada since 1962.

Ford Credit Canada, Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Credit International, Inc., the world's largest company dedicated to automotive financing.

- With files from The Canadian Press