Despite General Motors enhancing its relationship with GM Financial and Fiat-Chrysler shifting its captive finance company allegiance to Chrysler Capital that’s fueled by Santander Consumer USA, Ally Financial remains confident in its future prospects, sparked in part by the fact that its total originations last year came in at the highest level since 2007.

Ally chief executive officer Michael Carpenter explained how the company managed to generate this performance in the auto finance portion of its business, despite direct OEM support and volume diminishing since 2009. In his presentation and conference call with investment analysts this week, Carpenter referenced how Ally expanded its market coverage by making a return to full spectrum financing and forging relationships with providers such as Dealertrack Technologies to broaden dealer services.

“Through all of this, we have powered through all of this competitive activity because of the strength and uniqueness of our business model, and we’ve modified that model during this period of time,” Carpenter said, according to a transcript of the company’s quarterly conference call available from SeekingAlpha.com.

“We have transformed that business from a captive that was 80-percent dependent on subvented to a market-driven model that is centered on serving the needs of the auto dealer,” he continued.

“We did this in anticipation of OEM-supported business declining over time and our desire to not have the risk of being dependent on automakers for our originations,” Carpenter went on to say. “So we have taken numerous deliberate steps over the course of the last several years.”

In the fourth quarter, Ally reported that its consumer auto financing originations totaled $9.0 billion, up 10 percent year-over-year. The 2014 total came in at $41 billion as non-GM/Chrysler originations, excluding recreational vehicles, improved approximately 50 percent for the full year.

Ally now has approximately 10,000 active non-GM/Chrysler dealer relationships as new and used originations from these stores in Q4 improved 37 percent over prior year period.

That performance helped Ally’s auto finance division to generate pre-tax income of $310 million for the fourth quarter, compared to $207 million in the corresponding prior-year period. Official indicated results for the quarter were primarily driven by improved non-interest expense, due to a non-recurrence of the charge taken in the prior year period related to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and U.S. Department of Justic settlement.

“Net financing revenue was down slightly due to expected lower net lease revenue, primarily as a result of lower lease gains,” Ally said. “Earning asset growth remained solid across all products, despite continued intense competition.

“Additionally, provision expense increased in-line with expectations as a result of asset growth and a more diversified portfolio,” the company added.

Total end-of-period earning assets for Ally’s auto finance division, comprised primarily of consumer and commercial receivables and leases, stood at $112 billion at the close of the year.

Consumer earning assets totaled $78 billion, up 5 percent year-over-year, due to continued strong origination volume. End-of-period commercial earning assets increased slightly to $34 billion, up $200 million compared to the prior year period, primarily as a result of growth in the dealer loan portfolio.

For the full year as an entire company, Ally reported net income of $1.2 billion, or $1.83 per diluted common share, compared to net income of $361 million in 2013, or a loss of $1.64 per diluted common share. Core pre-tax income in 2014 totaled $1.4 billion, compared to core pre-tax income of $606 million in the prior year. Excluding repositioning items, Ally reported core pre-tax income of $1.6 billion for 2014, compared to $850 million for 2013. Adjusted earnings per diluted common share for full year 2014 were $1.68, compared to a loss of $0.14 in the prior year.

"The past year's accomplishments — from successful completion of our initial public offering to repayment of TARP — has solidified Ally's standing as a stronger, more focused financial services company,” Carpenter said. "We began the year with a plan aimed at improving shareholder returns, and significant progress was achieved in 2014 in the areas of net interest margin expansion, expense reduction and regulatory normalization, which all led to a core return on tangible common equity of 7.9 percent for the year. We remain committed to further improving our core return on tangible common equity as we move through 2015.

“At the foundation of this effort have been two very strong franchises in our dealer financial services and direct banking operations,” Carpenter continued. “While we have been transforming our dealer financial services business into a market-driven competitor for several years, in 2014, we began to really accelerate the expansion of our diversification efforts, which now represents 22 percent of our auto originations and approximately 10,000 active dealers. We are well-positioned to continue the momentum in this area of the business this year.”

Before closing his prepared remarks during the conference call, Carpenter took at aim any Ally detractors.

“Now, we certainly used to having a few skeptics in the audience, more than a few sometimes, and for that group I would say that even if you don't believe that we can achieve the plan I have described, and we are highly confident we will,” he said.