National Leasing has announced a partnership with a unit of American Express that will make the Winnipeg operation the designated Canadian leasing company for Amex customers with Canadian affiliates.

Estelle Rochon Fraser, National Leasing's vice-president business development and marketing, said the company was honoured to be a partner with such a world class financial institution.

"This is definitely a feather in our cap," Rochon Fraser said in an interview. "We had to compete with companies across Canada, mostly in Toronto, on a request for proposal."

Winnipeg-based National Leasing -- owned by management, the Chipman family through its holding company Megill-Stephenson and the Crocus Investment Fund -- is the largest player in the small ticket equipment leasing business that services the small and medium-sized business market in Canada.

Rochon Fraser said the Amex deal will introduce National Leasing to a different niche of customers, in particular "vendor relationships we don't presently have." Potential vendor customers would include manufacturers, franchisers and retailers.

American Express Business Finance (AEBF), a unit of American Express, is a premier small ticket lessor of commercial equipment. AEBF helps customers acquire equipment through its North American network of more than 2,000 preferred vendor partners. Craig Weinewuth, a vice-president at American Express Business Finance, said its U.S. customers were looking for a leasing solution in Canada.

"We went into Canada looking for a partner who could deliver a broad product offering," Wienewuth said in a telephone interview from Houston. "We believe the leasing and financing business is in a growth phase."

Rochon Fraser said it was National Leasing's operating platform that allows for quick credit authorizations as well as its service quality that impressed American Express.

"This partnership is the ideal fit for National Leasing," she said. "It allows us to showcase our processes and further establishes National Leasing as the industry leader in small and mid-ticket leasing in Canada."

Weinewuth added: "As part of our process of interviewing possible Canadian partners, we had a list of service level metrics that would be consistent with American Express standards and National Leasing held the bar well."

The deal will mean that customers of American Express leasing services in the U.S. who have affiliates in Canada will use National Leasing in this country. Rochon Fraser said it is hard to determine what the volume of business will be, but she said both National Leasing and Amex are confident there is plenty of capacity in the Winnipeg company's system. National Leasing currently initiates 1,700 to 2,000 new leases every month. The company generated more than $200 million in revenue last year and has more than $300 million in assets under management. National Leasing supplies financing products through 400 sales people, including independent representatives across Canada servicing 50,000 businesses.

"We are growing our portfolio every month," said Rochon Fraser.