Provident Financial plc (LON: PFG) have announced the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer on Monday morning.

Provident Financial plc is a British sub-prime lender, also described as a “doorstep lender”, based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It specialises in credit cards, home collected credit, online loans and consumer car finance.

Provident announced that it had hired Neeraj Kapur who is set to replace Simon Thomas from April 1 within the Monday update.

Kapur has been drawn away from Secure Trust Bank PLC where he worked as CFO for eight years.

He will leave the firm on March 31 and Secure Trust added that it has kicked off a search to find his successor.

Provident Financial Chief Executive Malcolm Le May said: “I am very much looking forward to Neeraj Kapur joining Provident Financial as chief finance officer. He has deep retail banking, consumer finance and savings experience and expertise, and will be an excellent addition to the senior leadership team as we continue to re-establish Provident Financial as the market leading sub-prime lender.”

The FTSE250 listed firm said that Thomas would be stepping down in 2020, which followed a three month period of medical leave which he took earlier this year.

Provident Financial hit news headlines earlier this year, as Non Standard Finance (LON: PFG) saw a bid rejected for a potential merger deal.

In a time where the global banking and finance industry is looking rather gloomy, the new appointment should be a point of positivity for the firm.

Only a few days back Moody’s lowered the UK banking outlook from stable to negative, which reflected a host of political and economic uncertainties which shroud UK business.

Certainly, the appointment is a step in the right direction for Provident Financial. However external factors such as Brexit complications, the upcoming General Election on Thursday and the ongoing feud between the United States and China have weighed heavily onto the dampening of recent trading.