DEARBORN — Ford Motor Credit Company announced the launch of Lincoln Automotive Financial Services (LAFS), a new captive established to serve Lincoln customers. It will provide branded financing products provided by Ford Credit.

“Lincoln Automotive Financial Services is the dedicated financing brand that complements the experience provided by Lincoln vehicles and our Lincoln dealerships,” said Bernard Silverstone, president of marketing and sales at Ford Credit. “Current and future Lincoln financing customers will enjoy the same exceptional service, with unique Lincoln branding.”

All customer touch points — contracts, invoices and customer service support — are branded LAFS, according to the company. The brand also allows customers to manage their accounts online or from mobile devices, and research financing-related products and services on www.lincolnafs.com, reported F&I and Showroom magazine.

“With a strong Lincoln vehicle lineup, an exceptional dealership experience and competitive private-label financing, we expect to drive more sales and loyalty for Lincoln,” Silverstone said.

FORT WORTH — GM Financial will become a player in the commercial lending segment by the end of the first quarter 2012, according to statements made yesterday by the company’s president and CEO, Dan Berce. The successful launch of a new program would mark the next phase in the company’s transformation from an independent subprime finance source into a full-scale captive finance company.

Berce made the announcement at the 2011 Leveraged Finance Conference, hosted by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. He said the company will roll out its full-service inventory financing platform by April 1, 2012. He added that the company has recently hired a number of experienced executives and staff from other captive companies to steer the new business segment, reported F&I and Showroom magazine.

“The goal here is not to supplant Ally. It’s having a platform that’s going to give dealers optionality and a choice,” he said. “Ally served the market well for GM, but they have 80 percent of GM’s dealer business — that’s a situation GM was uncomfortable with from a concentration standpoint.”

Although short on details, Berce said GM Financial would offer inventory financing, real-estate loans for store upgrades and capital loans.

The executive also offered an update on the company’s evolution into a captive finance company, saying that both companies have benefited since GM acquired GM Financial, formerly AmeriCredit Corp., last October for $3.5 billion. Berce, who also served as AmeriCredit’s chief executive, said the finance company’s balance sheet is strong, noting that net income for the June quarter increased from $86 million a year ago to $96 million.

Before the acquisition, Berce said the company originated $127 million of GM’s new-vehicle loans. In the June 2011 quarter, that number increased to $578 million. Berce added that the company is committed to maintaining and growing its non-GM business, which has increased in volume from about $600 million to $700 million since the acquisition.

“This speaks to the fact that subprime auto lending is relatively underserved in the market,” Berce noted.

The acquisition also has allowed General Motors to further penetrate the subprime market. GM’s market share in that demographic has increased from 4.9 percent to 6.8 percent since the acquisition. Berce added that GM Financial now accounts for 18 percent of GM’s subprime and lease activity. The captive also increased its percentage of originations for new GM vehicles from 14 to 38 percent.

As for leasing, which GM Financial rolled out nationally in July, the company’s percentage of industry sales has risen from 6.5 percent to 13.3 percent.

“The fact we got our [leasing] platform up and running created a competitive environment and really caused Ally to step up and be more competitive,” Berce said.

Berce also noted that GM Financial’s expansion of its leasing program into Canada — which followed the captive financing company’s purchase of FinanciaLinx Corp., one of Canada’s largest independent leasing companies, in March — has allowed GM to triple its lease penetration there. Berce said the company will look to build on that in 2012.

During the GM Financial’s performance update last month, the company reportedly originated $1.1 billion in auto loans in the United States, up from $935 million the previous quarter and $624 million in the year-ago period. Lease originations accounted for $311 million, compared to $11 million in the previous period.

As for the relationship between GM Financial and GM, Berce described it as an arms-length arrangement. “I can tell you, in the course of a year, we have not had one request or suggestion to buy deeper or charge less,” he said. “If GM wants us to charge less, they have to pay us through subvention dollars like they would any third party.”

Ally Financial Inc. is on track to launch a public stock offering late next year, and reported a net profit of $565 million in the second quarter on higher revenue and better operating results, The Detroit News reported.

Ally CEO Michael Carpenter, who took over in November, said Tuesday the Detroit-based bank holding company and auto and mortgage lender was on track to go public in the latter part of 2011.

In an interview, Carpenter said the company would be “solidly profitable” in the second half of 2010, but said the profits might not be as “ebullient” as those in the first half.

He said a successful IPO for General Motors Co., due by year’s end, “would really set the stage for us.”

The government infused $17.2 billion into Ally and owns a 56.3 percent majority stake. The most recent government estimate is taxpayers will lose $6.2 billion on their bailout of Ally.

Carpenter said Ally, which until recently was known as GMAC, was steadily removing more risky assets from its books and was performing ahead of plan.

Since 2007, Ally has recorded $14.5 billion in losses from its portfolio of residential mortgages — once as high as $125 billion.

By year’s end, Ally should have no more than $10 billion in mortgages, representing more than 15 percent of its balance sheet.

Those assets are much less risky than in the past, and its ResCap unit made a profit in the second quarter. But what Ally must decide is whether it remains in the mortgage origination business.

In the first half of 2010, Ally earned nearly $730 million, compared with a $4.6 billion loss in the first six months of last year.

The company is the primary lender to General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. It underwrote 60 percent of Chrysler’s retail sales in June.

Carpenter told analysts and reporters on a conference call that the company’s success was based on auto dealers opting to use it for financing.

“The dealers determine our success — not the (automakers),” Carpenter said. He added that “GM and Chrysler are our partners.”

He noted that while some banks are re-entering the auto lending business, “they fled the sinking ship as fast as they could” during the credit crisis.

Carpenter said 1,400 Chrysler dealers wouldn’t be in business if Ally hadn’t stuck by them.

“The dealers would have gone out of business — and they know that,” Carpenter said. “We are not a bank where this is a product line that’s sometime in favor. … We’re there in the good times and bad for dealers.”

But GM has announced plans to acquire a subprime lender, AmeriCredit, for $3.5 billion, and Chrysler Financial, which has been in wind-down, is considering returning to new lending. Some auto analysts think GM could eventually use AmeriCredit like GMAC was for nearly 90 years: its captive finance arm.

General Motors Co.’s acquisition of subprime lender AmeriCredit Corp. for $3.5 billion later this year could be the first step toward creating a full-blown captive finance company, Automotive News reported.

AmeriCredit lacks the capital of other automakers’ finance arms, and it’s primarily a used-vehicle lender serving borrowers with risky credit. But GM praised its strong management and staying power, calling AmeriCredit the “core” of GM’s in-house finance operation.

GM now has Ally Financial Inc., formerly GMAC Financial Services, for floorplanning and most prime financing and AmeriCredit for some leasing and to buy deeper to serve customers with lower credit scores. This gives GM dealers nearly the coverage that Ford Motor Co. dealers get from Ford Motor Credit Co.

The AmeriCredit acquisition will allow GM to sell more vehicles in North America — perhaps as many as 20 percent more, some analysts say — because dealers say Ally hasn’t been buying very deep.

The new finance arm will improve GM’s “competitiveness in auto finance offerings,” CEO Ed Whitacre said in a conference call announcing the purchase last week. The move also strengthens GM’s position to launch an initial public offering.

The Reuters news agency reported last week that GM plans to file its registration for an IPO during the week of Aug. 16, just after the date that GM is expected to announce second-quarter results.

Besides possibly allowing GM to sell to more people, a captive can generate its own profits. For example, Ford Credit reported second-quarter pretax operating profits of $888 million.

GM’s deal with AmeriCredit came as Ford Credit ran into a temporary financing roadblock.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Ford captive pulled back a scheduled sale of bonds backed by auto loans in the wake of financial reforms signed into law last week by President Barack Obama.

In a statement, Ford Credit declined to comment.

Such asset-backed bonds, used to raise funds for future lending, are legally required to have credit ratings attached. But rating agencies — including Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch — now refuse to allow their ratings to be published, although they continue to make ratings as part of the bond offering. The agencies are reacting to new regulations that make it easier for investors to sue them.

The issue had threatened to freeze such bond sales. But on Friday, July 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a “no action” letter allowing asset-backed bond sales without credit ratings for six months. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association credited the move with “avoiding the potential for negative impact on the availability of financing.”

For now, the planned acquisition of AmeriCredit leaves GM’s partnership with Ally intact, assuring a continuation of floorplan financing for GM dealerships.