In Brief: Fidelity Lease Unit Seeks Bank Channels

Fidelity Leasing Inc. is looking for banks willing to offer its small- business products.

Fidelity makes three- to five-year leases in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 for computers, office equipment, and telephone systems. Interest rates range from 10% to 15%, depending on the size of the lease and credit quality.

Banks generate fee income from the leases made through Fidelity, while the leasing company earns interest and bears the risk of default.

Abe Bernstein, Fidelity's chairman and chief executive officer, said last week that the firm plans to form strategic alliances with five banks by the end of 1998.

The company had signed up CoreStates Financial Corp., and is negotiating with First Union Corp. to continue the deal. (First Union is expected to complete its purchase of CoreStates this spring.)

Fidelity is a suburban Philadelphia-based subsidiary of mortgage lender Resource America Inc. It sells leases to customers of equipment manufacturers, such as Minolta Co. and Lucent Technologies Inc.

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