Governance and management
By having effective governance and management structures in place, we can ensure that our CR programme is a cornerstone of our business.
Corporate profile
Provident Financial is a financial services group specialising in the provision of personal credit products for consumers in the UK non-standard lending market.
How we manage corporate responsibility
For our corporate responsibility programme to be effective it is important that it is integrated across the whole business and has management support – from the board of directors and throughout the whole company.
The board
Our board is accountable for the way we manage the CR issues that are material to our business activities. Chief Executive Peter Crook is responsible for our overall, group-wide CR programme.
Reports, which include CR and community affairs sections, are presented at every board meeting and enable the board to assess the materiality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters to the group.
Management committee
The management committee oversees the group's CR programme on behalf of the board. Since its formation in July 2007, the committee's role has been to ensure that within day-to-day operations our businesses manage the risks and respond to the opportunities which are presented by a group-wide issue such as CR.
Working groups
Three key working groups have been established to address the ESG issues that are material to our operations, products and services
- The Responsible lending group puts in place a framework to manage the issue of responsible lending for both the Consumer Credit Division and Vanquis Bank.
- Environmental working groups at both the Consumer Credit Division and Vanquis Bank contribute to the development and delivery of our environmental management programme.
- The Corporate responsibility working group guarantees that human resources and supply chain management issues are factored into our CR programme.
Stakeholder dialogue
Our CR programme is constantly developing and evolving. In order to make sure it is developing in the right direction and deals with the right issues, we need to understand the needs, expectations and concerns of the people that matter to our business.
Each year we undertake a consultation process with our stakeholders to obtain feedback on the efficiency of our CR reports and the performance of our CR programme. We do this by facilitating an annual roundtable discussion with representatives from a range of organisations.
We also engage with government and regulators to understand how changes to legislation will impact on our business activities. We do this by responding to consultations, participating in government-sponsored projects and attending meetings with representatives from government and regulatory authorities.
Mission and values
Our mission is to be the UK's leading non-standard lender, acting responsibly and playing a positive role in the communities we serve. Our mission and values shape what we do and how we do it, and provide a benchmark against which our business performance can be assessed.
Embedding our values
Over the past 18 months we have been working hard to embed our core values within the Provident Financial group.
Our values help drive our commitment to CR management, including maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction and investment in the local communities in which our customers, agents and staff live and work.
The structures we have in place guarantee that, despite economic uncertainty, CR remains a core part of our business.