In Brief: Provident of Ohio in On-Line Car Lease Deal

Provident Financial Group, a Cincinnati bank holding company, will finance car leases in the 10 states where it has branches for customers of Autobytel.com, the nation's largest on-line automobile dealer. Provident will be the dealer's exclusive lease financer in those states-Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

The handover from GE Capital Corp., Autobytel.com's current lease financer in those states, will start within two months, said Robert M. Molter, the banking company's senior vice president of consumer lending.

Provident hopes to increase its lease application volume by 18%, to 10,000 per month, through Internet commerce and other growth strategies, Mr. Molter said.

The company is negotiating to add on-line alliances beyond Autobytel.com, he said. "It is important for us to strategically partner with other companies," Mr. Molter said.

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