Richmond Group has been clear that we welcome and support the return of CEO Glen Crawford. Glen has a lot of work to do in Amigo’s UK business: replacing the remaining members of the board who mismanaged Amigo; cutting back layers of unnecessary suits brought in by the previous board; paying down debt and buying back underpriced bonds to repair the damage done by Hamish to the balance sheet; collecting in hundreds of millions of pounds of post-debt assets; and fighting the unethical, and I believe unlawful u-turn by the FOS on irresponsible lending which has financially excluded millions of ordinary people.

But Amigo Group is much more than its UK regulated lending business. Amigo is a brand that stands for a mission: to fight the unfairness of exclusion that comes from an industry that judges customers on their credit history alone. The separate Irish business that was started two years ago has proven that there is demand for Amigo’s products in markets which, unlike the UK regulated market enjoy fair and stable rule of law. At the same time in the U.K., non-FCA Authorised lenders like Klarna are proving it is possible to offer simple, fair and inclusive products which are profitable and build value for their shareholders outside of FCA jurisdiction. Whilst Amigo Loans UK needs a CEO that can face the FOS and FCA, It is time for Amigo Group PLC to demonstrate not only that it has a plan to protect and return hundreds of millions of pounds on post-debt assets from it’s UK Lender, but also that it has a plan to turn those assets into the secure year on year growth that it was known for until Hamish Paton’s calamitous time as CEO.

Today I am therefore asking the board of Amigo to publicly agree to the following changes:

1. Replacement of Nayan Kisnadwala with a capable CFO within the next 30 days.
2. Removal of Roger Lovering immediately and appointment of one of the remaining iNEDs as Non Exec Chair.
3. Retention of Glen as CEO of Amigo Loans Ltd, the FCA Authorised subsidiary of Amigo Holdings PLC.
4. Formation of a functional board of Amigo Loans Ltd, comprising Glen as CEO; INEDs Richard, Gary and Jonathan; and the new CFO. This UK board will discharge corporate governance functions expected by the FCA of an FCA Authorised UK lender.
5. Appointment of me, James Benamor as CEO of Amigo Holdings PLC, the ultimate parent company which is not FCA Authorised.
6. Formation of PLC board comprising me as CEO, along with the new CFO, and iNeds Richard, Gary and Jonathan.

As CEO of Amigo Holdings PLC I plan to support the board of Amigo Loans Ltd in their strategy of cost cutting, bond buy backs, debt clearance, and Judicial Review of FOS decisions, whilst simultaneously rebuilding a team at Group level that is able to use the cash immediately returned to Group to build stable profitable businesses outside of the FOS and FCA policies which have so harmed U.K. consumers. In building Amigo UK Ltd, Amigo Group allocated hundreds of millions in assets to that business. It is now time for some of that money to be taken back out of U.K. regulated lending, and used to pursue Amigo’s mission, building secure shareholder value in the process.

The U.K. regulator’s actions have supported fraud by consumers against lenders, and a campaign of looting led by claims management companies, many linked to the most unscrupulous vultures the Industry has to offer. Amigo Group does not have to maintain the vast majority of its assets in a sector where a business projected to make over £100m/year and which had several hundred million of future receivables net of debt could be valued at under £50m.

I have spent the last few months doing what the previous Amigo board had been too contemptuous and lazy to do: speaking to hundreds of ordinary people who are Amigo shareholders. I have heard their concerns, their indignation, and most of all their questions. Private investors, some with a few hundred shares, others who have most of their life savings in Amigo, have been left in the dark by the previous board. Taken for granted, the looting that has gone on has come out of their pockets. The fraud that has been facilitated has emptied their bank accounts. Their important questions have been ignored by the management of the company, as if they were annoying children interrupting the grown ups. As CEO of Amigo Holdings PLC I will work every day for those shareholders, defending their interests and ensuring Amigo becomes known as the most transparent public company in the UK.

I have made this announcement going into the weekend because it is in the interests of shareholders for there to be as little uncertainty as possible. I would ask the board of Amigo to work diligently to give a public response before start of trading on Monday. Like all shareholders, I want the best result for Amigo with as little energy wasted as possible. Should we be able to obtain suitable public assurances from the board, we will not call a shareholder’s vote next week upon us dropping below the 10% shareholding threshold.