Ally Anticipating Loss Of GM Lease Biz - CEO

Detroit February 19, 2015; Peter Rudegeair writing for Reuters reported in an exclusive report that - Ally Financial Inc is taking steps to replace its remaining exclusive leasing deals with General Motors Co , betting that the largest U.S. carmaker will eventually finish taking that business in-house, the auto lender's chief executive said in an interview.

GM has already said that its financing arm, GM Financial, would replace Ally as the exclusive lessor for Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. Ally expects GM Financial to eventually take over leasing for Chevrolet as well, Ally Chief Executive Jeffrey Brown told Reuters on Thursday.

"That is a planning assumption we've got today," Brown told Reuters.

GM's pullback from Ally threatens to cut off about one-quarter of the bank's retail lending business, though the company expects the changes will have a minimal financial impact in 2015. Brown said Ally is redeploying capital to other types of business, like lending for used cars and to dealers not associated with GM and Chrysler.

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Editing fro Reuters by Christian Plumb