Provident Financial makes Malcolm Le May permanent CEO

Provident Financial Group has made Malcolm Le May its permanent chief executive, with the banking veteran having last year been appointed executive chairman on temporary basis.

Le May, a former head of banking for Barclays in New York and head of investment banking for UBS in Europe, had been running the company after the death of then-chairman Manjit Wolstenholme in November.

Having consulted with several major shareholders and the financial regulator, Provident's board said they believe Le May "is an outstanding candidate for the role, given his existing knowledge of the group, his deep knowledge of the business and sector, his regulatory understanding and turn-around and leadership skills".

The company noted that since the trading statement on 16 January, the doorstep lending business has made further operational progress and that discussions were continuing with the Financial Conduct Authority in relation to the Vanquis Bank and Moneybarn investigations.

As well as moving Stuart Sinclair to the role of interim chairman from that of senior independent director, Provident also announced a number of senior appointments to drive the execution of the strategy under Le May, including the planned promotion of Vanquis Bank managing director Chris Sweeney to deputy group CEO in addition to his role at the head of the banking division.

Chris Gillespie's role as MD of the consumer credit division has been made permanent, tasked with the unit's continued turnaround.

Steve Grigg has been appointed interim group chief information and technology officer, "to define the group's long-term IT architecture".

The board has instigated a process to appoint a new external chairman as well as two additional non-executive directors as soon as practicable.