For instance, many Korean companies do not record financial leases of property or equipment on their balance sheets.

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Banks like Ally and like TD Bank, the parent company of TD Auto Finance, the former Chrysler Financial, can use deposit accounts to originate auto loans and leases.

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Financial firms and local businessmen with little energy experience began snapping up offshore leases from the government.

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Chapter 11 also allows a company to reject unprofitable leases and supply agreements or use the threat of such rejection as leverage to obtain financial concessions from lessors and other counterparties.

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Some are worried about an expected increase in delinquencies, as many medium-term leases are set to expire and tenants are unlikely to renew at prices set before the financial crisis, which would push down prices.

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