Cologne, Germany  - Toyota's financial services arm, which lends to buyers of Toyota cars, says it has increased its German business 4 per cent in the past year and would this year mark 20 years of loans in Germany.

Toyota Kreditbank said it signed up 82,143 credit accounts in Germany in the year ended March 31 and was currently managing about 232,000 accounts.

The Cologne-based unit has branches in France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Spain and subsidiaries in Poland and Russia. It belongs to Toyota Financial Services Corp, which is 100-per-cent owned by Toyota Motor Corp. (dpa)