Scheme of Arrangement Update

Provident Financial plc (‘the Group’ or ‘PFG’), the leading provider of credit products to consumers who are underserved by mainstream lenders, publishes an update today on the proposed Scheme of Arrangement for CCD (Consumer Credit Division).

Scheme of Arrangement Update

On 15 March 2021, PFG notified the market of CCD’s intention to launch a Scheme of Arrangement (the ‘Scheme’) in relation to potential redress claims arising from customer credit-worthiness complaints based on historic lending at CCD. Since then, PFG has been working closely with the FCA, as it completed its assessment of the Scheme, in order to address any outstanding concerns.

On 22 April 2021, the High Court made an order enabling CCD to convene a meeting of Scheme creditors to consider the Scheme. CCD customers, past and present, as well as the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), will now have the opportunity to vote on the Scheme. Further information regarding the Scheme, including how to vote, can be found at: https://scheme.providentpersonalcredit.com/.

The creditors’ meeting will be held on 19 July 2021 and, if the Scheme is approved by its creditors, the final Court sanction hearing will take place on 30 July 2021.

PFG continues to believe that if the Scheme is not successful, then CCD would have to be placed into administration or liquidation. In this scenario, CCD customers with legitimate claims would receive no redress payment.

Malcolm Le May, Provident Financial Group, CEO, commented:

I am pleased to report that the High Court has approved the holding of a meeting for relevant creditors to consider and vote on the Scheme. In doing so, the Court has enabled the Scheme’s creditors to undertake their own assessment of the benefits of the Scheme. We continue to firmly believe that a Scheme offers the fairest compromise that can be offered to CCD’s customers and we are working hard to deliver it successfully.

We will publish our FY’20 results on Monday 10 May. At that point, we will provide an update to the market on the conclusions of the operational review of CCD, which we announced in November 2020. We will also provide an update on how we see the future of the Group evolving, with our continued focus on the objectives we set out at our Capital Markets Day in 2019.”