17th Oct 2006 07:00
Provident Financial PLC17 October 2006 Provident Financial - changes to Hungarian business At the request of the PSZAF, the Hungarian financial supervisory authority,Provident Financial is to introduce certain new administrative procedures, ITsystems changes and changes to the self-employed status of its agents in itsHungarian business. At this stage, our best estimate is that it may take up to amonth to implement the necessary changes to administrative procedures and ITsystems. No existing contracts are affected and customer repayments will be collected asnormal. In the meantime, lending has been suspended temporarily with immediateeffect but will resume once the changes to administrative procedures and ITsystems have been implemented to the satisfaction of the PSZAF. Our best estimate of the financial impact is for a small adverse impact onprofits of up to £2 million in 2006 and an impact of up to £6 million in 2007,mainly due to the additional costs of changing the employment status of ourHungarian agents. The ongoing impact beyond 2007 is expected to be up to £4million per annum. Despite this impact, Provident's Hungarian business continuesto provide a valuable service to its customers and has a good profitable future. Provident has always cooperated fully with the PSZAF and will modify itsprocedures and systems as quickly as possible to meet the regulator's newrequirements. Enquiries: John Moulding 01274 377921 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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