Vanquis Bank
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Vanquis Bank is a subsidiary of the Provident Financial Group. Established in 2007, it offers credit building credit cards under the
Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...
brand for UK residents with a limited or uneven
credit history :''This article deals with the general concept of the term credit history. For detailed information about the same topic in the United States, see Credit score in the United States.'' A credit history is a record of a borrower's responsible repay ...
. It also offers a
fixed rate bond Fixed may refer to: * ''Fixed'' (EP), EP by Nine Inch Nails * ''Fixed'', an upcoming 2D adult animated film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky * Fixed (typeface), a collection of monospace bitmap fonts that is distributed with the X Window System * F ...
service, launched in 2011.


History

Vanquis was set up by Provident Financial and licensed for consumer credit by the OFT in 2002. It received authorisation from the
Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...
the following year. Initially conceived as a pilot scheme from Provident, it received approval from the parent group to expand in 2004 and relocated to the current Head Office location in London in 2005. Following extensive marketing and advertising, increased business volumes resulted in the customer services department moving to larger premises at
Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
in 2008, in part of what used to be the Chatham Naval Dockyards. In 2009 Vanquis rebranded, launched new credit cards and won the Credit Provider of the Year at the Credit Today Awards, something it would repeat in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2011, a further call centre was opened in
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
, and a high-yield bond product was authorised by the FSA. Vanquis also received a Passport banking license to operate in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
in 2012.


Management structure

Vanquis is overseen by the Provident Financial board, in addition to its own management team. John de Blocq van Kuffeler is non-executive chairman of Provident, after joining the group as chief executive in 1991 from
Brown Shipley Brown Shipley is a member of Quintet Private Bank. It is headquartered in London's Moorgate, behind the Bank of England. Brown Shipley offers wealth planning, investment management and lending services for private, corporate and institutional cl ...
. He is also chairman of Huveaux. Managing Director Peter Crook joined Provident in September 2005, after previously being director of
Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylized as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. , Barclays had over ten million customers in the United Kingdom. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June 1966, initially as a charge card, but followin ...
in 2000 and MD of UK Consumer Finance. Finance Director Andrew Fisher was a former partner in
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and CFO of
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, before being appointed in 2006. Managing Director Michael Lenora joined Provident in 2007, after holding positions in
Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylized as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. , Barclays had over ten million customers in the United Kingdom. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June 1966, initially as a charge card, but followin ...
and
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.


Offices

The head office of Vanquis is at 20 Fenchurch Street in London. Previous to this, the company was based in 12 Arthur Street. Originally called Minster House, it was redeveloped in 2004 by HKR Architects and Shieldpoint Ltd. The site around Arthur Street has uncovered historical artifacts dating from Roman waterfront development from around the 1st - 3rd century AD. Vanquis also operate a call centre in Chatham, Kent, making it one of the larger employers in the
Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...
area. In 2011, Vanquis opened an office in the new Southgate Complex development at 1 Godwin street in Bradford.


Products

Vanquis Bank offer three main credit building cards: Vanquis Card Classic, with an APR of 39.9%, the Vanquis Chrome card which has an APR of 29.5% and also the Vanquis Origin card with an APR of 59.9%. The card offered depends on the credit circumstances of the applicant. Vanquis also offers personal loan products with a representative APR of 39.9% and some fixed rate savings bonds.


Company results

Provident invested £6.7m in the Vanquis business and reached the break-even point in 2007. Vanquis provided above-estimated results in 2010, posting revenue of £162m which helped Provident to strong end-of-year figures. Many have attributed the gains made by Vanquis and Provident to the continued UK recession and the difficulty of obtaining credit from mainstream lenders with existing adverse credit, however Vanquis cite that despite an increase in applications, acceptance rates are not significantly higher. In 2018, Vanquis was fined £2m for failing to properly disclose charges on one of its popular repayment plans. Vanquis was also forced to pay £169m back in compensation to its customers.


Charity

Vanquis Bank engage in a number of charitable causes, including Hatua, a charity created to educate children in the poorest parts of Kenya and provide books, computer equipment, learning resources and motivational guidance to talented pupils.


References


External links

* * * {{cite web , url=http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews100092.html, title=Vanquis Bank Reviews, accessdate=28 Feb 2016 Banks of the United Kingdom