Provident Financial director jumps ship

Provident Financial's boardroom lost another director on Friday, as financial services veteran David Sear jumped ship, with the embattled group's chairman having died in November and the search for a new chief executive also ongoing.

Sear, the founder of WorldPay, has decided to step down from Provident's board with immediate effect after only a year.

"Having joined the Board a year ago to assist with the development of the group's strategy in this arena and broader IT direction, the group now finds itself in very different circumstances and with different strategic priorities," Provident said, with the sub-prime lender still recovering from a strategic change that led to a major profit warning and exodus of staff and customers.

With Sear having decided to take on an executive chairman role payments company Entropay, Provident's own executive chairman, Malcolm Le May, said: "We are sad that David has decided to step down but completely understand his decision.

"We would like to thank him for his contribution to the group in a difficult year and in particular for his contribution to its IT strategy where he has helped the group to significantly modernise its approach."

Earlier this month, Provident reported "progress" in the final quarter of the year but 20% fewer new customer bookings for its Vanquis Bank arm.

Provident's struggles to "reconnect" with many customers of its doorstep credit arm after changing the business model last year are seen resulting in a full-year pre-exceptional loss of roughly £115m, with a proposed restructuring of central office functions in order to trim costs further.