Chief marketer to join Provident arm’s board

Provident Financial, the Bradford-based home credit and motor insurance group, has promoted head of marketing Chris Graham to the new position of marketing and communications director.

Graham will take on a board-level role for the UK & Ireland Credit Board, Provident Financial’s largest subsidiary. The head of marketing role has been filled by John Grimbaldeston, who previously oversaw retail insurance marketing at Abbey National and spent six years as head of marketing at Abbey National’s general insurance arm.

Grimbaldeston will head a team of 15 and will be responsible for all customer acquisition, retention, research and field marketing work for the UK home credit division. He will report to Graham.

Provident Financial reported a 23 per cent increase in turnover to &£555m for the six months to the end of June. Its UK home credit division saw a 2.2 per cent rise in customer numbers to 1.61 million and a 2.6 per cent rise in turnover to &£238m.

Provident Financial employs 7,500 people and serves 3.6 million customers in the UK and central Europe.