Vendor finance company CIT Australia & New Zealand is hoping that more difficult credit conditions will stimulate demand for leases this year, after a decline in receivables and a heavy fall in profit last year.Part of the CIT Worldwide Group, the firm mainly finances leases for IT and office equipment programs in Australia, though one exception is a relationship with Honda to finance motor bikes.A lot of finance company financial statements are only slowly becoming available through ASIC. Net profit for calendar year 2007 for CIT ANZ fell forty per cent to $15.4 million. An $8 million increase in interest expense to $47.5 million was the main villain behind the profit fall at CIT, with total investment in lease falling four per cent to $578 million.Christopher Carey, chief sales and marketing officer Australia and New Zealand, said tighter lending conditions from banks should prompt some companies to consider other financing methods, such as leasing."In the current credit crisis, what we are finding is within the smaller business market, you are seeing a lot more companies struggling with liquidity as their banks are not lending to previous levels, so leasing becomes an option."Leasing introductions to CIT will usually come directly from a vendor, who will approach CIT for a funding solution."Our business is explicitly tied to the success of the vendor. And in line with that we have seen our penetration rates across all our vendor finance businesses in Australia and New Zealand increasing."CIT was essentially an operating lease company, and at the end of the leasing period customers in the majority of cases returned the funded equipment.Carey added that in 2008 he anticipates companies extending the life of their rental equipment as a cheaper option, rather than purchasing updates or upgrades. Current finance lease receivables increased slightly in 2007 to $321 million, with non-current falling twelve per cent to $293 million.Impaired receivables decreased eleven per cent to $2.2 million.Leases past due but not impaired fell 18 per cent to $43 million, with $38.9 million of the ageing receivables contained in the one- to three-month bracket, down from $46.6 million in 2006.Three- to six-month past due remained static at $4.3 million.Bad debts written off increased 60 per cent to $10 million.CIT financial risk management by industry has 'wholesale/retail trade' tripling for 2007 to $138 million, with 'manufacturing' doubling to $29 million and 'other' increasing substantially to $46 million.'Airline' credit risk dropped a fifth to $232 million, with 'property and business services' almost halving to $173 million.Overall, CIT credit risk highlighted in the annual report fell six per cent to $871 million.