Now Provident chief has quit rival debt firm

PROVIDENT Financial’s shamed former boss has stepped down from the board of Britain’s biggest debt collection firm – reportedly delaying its £1bn flotation plans.

Peter Crook quit Cabot Credit Management following his resignation in disgrace last month from sub-prime lender Provident Financial when it went into meltdown – putting 800,000 customers of its doorstep collection business at risk.

Cabot intended to announce plans to float this week but Crook’s exit has delayed the process, a source said. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies are reportedly working on the listing, which would value Cabot – controlled by US debt recovery business Encore Capital Group – at around £1bn.

Crook, 54, stepped down in August after ten years at Provident after shares crashed 66pc on its second profit warning in three months – wiping nearly £1.7bn off its value in one of the biggest falls for a FTSE 100 firm. It suspended its dividend and disclosed the Financial Conduct Authority was investigating a product sold by its Vanquis Bank business.

A software bug had made it impossible to collect debts and said its door-to-door loan division would lose up to £120m per year.