UK Lender To Axe Over 500 Jobs

Wed, 02 Sep 2009

UK sub-prime lender Cattles has announced that it will be closing 30 branches of its Welcome Financial Services subsidiary where leases have expired, or are due to expire.

The closures are part of the firm’s restructuring plans and will result in up to 510 job losses in its sales and support teams.

Welcome Financial Services stopped lending to new customers in February, although Cattles still operates debt recovery firm Lewis.

The troubled lender is now in the hands of its debt holders after a review of its accounts discovered it had an extra £700 million of bad loans on its books. Seven executives were forced to leave the firm as a result.

Cattles appointed a new management team earlier this year and has since been looking at ways to reduce costs.

Commenting on the job cuts and branch closures, Margaret Young, the new executive chairman, said: "These proposed changes are central to Cattles achieving a more cost efficient business model which mirrors current levels of lending activity."

"Cattles is still in constructive discussions with its key financial creditors to obtain a standstill agreement."
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.

Credit Crunch Savers
HSA Dental Plan
Get covered from £7.70 per month!
Amex Cash Back
Credit Card
Get 5% cash back on purchases with Amex
Income Protection Insurance
Get an instant quote with the award winning company