Vanquis Banking Group

British sub-prime lender

This article is about the Bradford-based financial services group. For the now defunct Cincinnati-based financial services group known as Provident Financial, see National City Corp.

Vanquis Banking Group plc

Company type| Public

Traded as

| LSE: VANQ
Industry| Financial services
Founded| 1880
Headquarters| Bradford, England, UK
Products| Credit cards
Savings accounts
Online loans
Consumer car finance
Revenue|  £458.5 million (2024)[1]

Operating income

|  £(136.3) million (2024)[1]

Net income

|  £(119.3) million (2024)[1]
Total assets|  £3,375.3 million (2024)[1]
Total equity|  £441.2 million (2024)[1]
Website| www.vanquisbankinggroup.com
Registered Office, No. 1 Godwin Street, Bradford, England (the building on the left) London Office at 12 Arthur Street

Vanquis Banking Group, formerly Provident Financial plc, is a British bank headquartered in Bradford, England which specialises in credit cards, loans and consumer vehicle finance. It primarily services customers with a sub-prime credit history who have been declined for credit from mainstream lenders.[2] It also offers fixed-rate and notice savings accounts under the trading name Vanquis Savings.[3] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

## History

[edit]

The company was established in Bradford in 1880 by Joshua Kelley Waddilove to provide affordable credit to families in West Yorkshire as the Provident Clothing and Supply Company.[4][5] The Company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1962.[6]

Provident Financial were one of the first financial institutions to enter into estate agency in the UK,[7] establishing Whitegate Estate Agency in two cities 1978, and by the end of the year was operating in eight Yorkshire towns.[8] The chain grew to 19 branches by the end of 1979,[9] 22 branches by the end of 1980[10] and 23 branches by the end of 1982.[11] Innovations brought to the market place included seven day opening, computerised mailing lists, a "No Sale – No Fee" guarantee and an all include fixed fee.[12] By late 1985 there were 60 branches of the chain,[13] expanding with a move into the East Midlands in 1986 to 70 branches (the 10 in the East Midlands were acquisitions which had trade during 1986 under their former names.[14] As the chain reached its 10th anniversary towards the end of 1987, the chain totaled 95 branches of which 17 were franchised,[15] rising to 107 branches (27 franchised) by the end of the following year.[16] The chain was sold for £19 million[17] in December 1989 to Legal & General.[18]

In 2002, Provident Financial formed Vanquis Bank, with a full banking licence from the FSA, a consumer credit licence with the Office of Fair Trading and a licence from Visa International to operate and issue credit cards under the Visa brand. Vanquis Bank specialised in credit cards.[19]

In 2005, Provident Financial closed its Yes Car Credit business, which had sold second-hand vehicles to customers with problematic credit histories.[20] The company had been subject to bad publicity, including a TV investigation into its selling practices, pressurisation of staff, unreliable vehicles and debt collection methods.[21] In 2007, it demerged its international business, and a new separate public company was formed called International Personal Finance.[22] This company then held all of Provident Financial's ex-non-UK operations, with the exception of Ireland. It also sold the motor insurance business.[23]

In 2013, Provident Financial launched its online short-term loan Satsuma Loans.[24]

In 2014, Moneybarn was acquired by Provident Financial plc, joining the home credit and online credit businesses and Vanquis Bank to become the third leg of the group.[25]

The Central Bank of Ireland in late 2014 fined and reprimanded Provident Financial for flagrant breaches of the regulatory requirements aimed at protecting Irish consumers.[26] The five whistleblowers who reported the law breaking were then sacked by Provident, which led to the matter being raised in Dáil Éireann.[27]

On 22 August 2017, Provident Financial lost two-thirds of its stock value in a day, following its second profit warning in two months, the replacement of its chief executive by Manjit Wolstenholme, cancellation of a shareholder dividend and a warning that the full-year dividend might also be cancelled, and the announcement of an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority.[28][29] The share price, which had been £32 in April 2017, was £8.50 by the first week of October 2017.[30]

In March 2021, Provident Financial announced it intended to introduce a scheme of arrangement, under which £50 million would be set aside for compensation payments for unresolved claims made before 17 December 2020.[31]

In December 2021, Provident Financial's doorstep lending business was placed into a managed orderly run-off. The business was closed down on 31 December 2021.[32]

In January 2023, it was announced that the company would be rebranded from "Provident Financial" to "Vanquis Banking Group".[33] It changed its name accordingly on 2 March 2023.[34]

## Criticism

[edit]

In 2011, Vanquis Bank was criticised for offering repayment option plans to their credit card customers, a form of insurance some consumer sites referred to as the 'new payment protection insurance (PPI)'.[35] In 2012, the company was the subject of an episode of the BBC documentary series Panorama, which alleged that the company were breaching Office of Fair Trading guidelines by offering loans to vulnerable people who might not have understood the implications of the contracts they were entering into. The company were criticised by the Citizen's Advice Bureau, whose chief executive told Panorama, "I call into question...the motivation to keep exploiting people who clearly can't be held responsible for their own decisions in that situation."[36]

In 2018, Vanquis Bank was fined £2 million for failing to properly disclose charges on one of its popular repayment plans.[37] Vanquis was also forced to pay £169 million back in compensation to its customers.[38]

## Operations

[edit]

The main activity is the credit card business, Vanquis Bank,[39] which was set up by Provident Financial in 2002.[40] The customer services department moved to a new call centre in part of what used to be the Naval Dockyards at Chatham in 2008.[41] Vanquis Bank offer a range of cards depending on the credit circumstances of the applicant.[42]

In 2009 Vanquis rebranded, launched new credit cards and won the Credit Provider of the Year at the Credit Today Awards.[43] In 2011, a further call centre was opened in Bradford, and a high-yield bond product was authorised by the FSA.[44] Vanquis also began to operate in Poland using EU bank passporting rights in 2012.[45]

In July 2024 the bank was forced to announce £40 million of write-downs and issued warnings over capital ratio targets.[46]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e "Annual results 2024" (PDF). Vanquis Banking Group. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
2. ^ "Our products". Vanquis Banking Group. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
3. ^ "Savings Accounts". Vanquis Savings. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
4. ^ O'Connell, Sean, Credit and community: working class debt in the UK since 1880 (Oxford University Press, 2009)
5. ^ "heritage". PFG. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
6. ^ "Provident Financial". London Stock Exchange. Archived from the original on 10 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
7. ^ Ennew, Christine, ed. (1993). Cases in Marketing Financial Services. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. pp. 196–200\. ISBN 0750606614.
8. ^ Provident Financial Group (1978). Annual Report 1978. p. 10.
9. ^ Provident Financial Group (1979). Annual Report 1979. p. 8.
10. ^ Provident Financial Group (1980). Annual Report 1980. p. 7.
11. ^ Provident Financial Group (1982). Annual Report 1982. p. 6.
12. ^ Provident Financial Group (1983). Annual Report 1983. p. 32.
13. ^ Provident Financial Group (1985). Annual Report 1985. p. 7.
14. ^ Provident Financial Group (1986). Annual Report 1986. p. 7.
15. ^ Provident Financial Group (1987). Annual Report 1987. p. 7.
16. ^ Provident Financial Group (1988). Annual Report 1988. p. 11.
17. ^ Provident Financial Group (1989). Annual Report 1989. p. 7.
18. ^ Whitegates (Midlands) Limited (1989). Accounts for the Period Ended 24 November 1989. p. 1.
19. ^ "Vanquis Bank increases interest rates on top fixed-rate savings accounts". Love Money. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
20. ^ "Write better papers, faster!". accessmylibrary.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
21. ^ Car finance glossary Archived 26 May 2008 at archive.today
22. ^ "Provident Financial puts £70m into demerger".[dead link]
23. ^ "Provident Financial sells motor insurance arm to GMAC for £170m". business-sale.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
24. ^ Treanor, Jill (27 October 2013). "Provident Financial launches Satsuma loans at 792% APR". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
25. ^ "Provident Financial buys Moneybarn for £120m". FT. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
26. ^ "Central Bank is still failing us, despite all we've gone through". Irish Independent. 7 December 2014.
27. ^ "Call for Central Bank probe after Provident sacks 'whistleblowers'". Irish Independent. 17 June 2015.
28. ^ Rob Davies (22 August 2017). "Provident Financial sees nearly £1.7bn wiped off stock market value". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
29. ^ "Provident Financial slumps the most on record". The Irish Times. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
30. ^ "Philip Hammond faces hot seat as bad news piles up". The Guardian. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
31. ^ "Provident Refund Claims". The Claims Guide. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
32. ^ "Provident Financial returns to profit despite closure of consumer credit unit". Financial Times. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
33. ^ "Provident Financial to ditch 140-year-old name". Financial Times. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
34. ^ "Vanquis Banking Group plc". Companies House. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
35. ^ "Corporate Crime & Investigations Update – 2 March". Addleshaw Goddard. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
36. ^ "Doorstep lender gave 'thousands to schizophrenic woman'". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
37. ^ Jaeger, Jaclyn (27 February 2018). "Financial Conduct Authority fines Vanquis £2 million". Compliance Week. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
38. ^ "Doorstep lender to return £169m to clients". BBC News. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
39. ^ "One million apply for 60pc interest rate credit card". The Telegraph. 8 March 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
40. ^ "Vanquis Bank overhauls call centres with Azzurri". Fin Extra. 18 September 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
41. ^ "Suspicious package containing white powder sent to Vanquis Bank call centre in Chatham Maritime". Kent Online. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
42. ^ "Credit Cards – Apply Online Today UK | Vanquis". www.vanquis.co.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
43. ^ "Credit Today 2009 award winners announced". Credit Today. 15 May 2009. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
44. ^ "Provident Financial plc Interim Management Statement". london Stock Exchange. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
45. ^ Chris Holland (3 May 2012). "Bradford finance firm plans Poland expansion". Telegraph & Argus. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
46. ^ Hosking, Patrick (17 July 2024). "Former doorstep lender hit by £52m in accounting errors". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 17 July 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website