How International Personal Finance in Leeds has fared under lockdown

The Leeds-based firm added that it is "focused on ensuring our teams are able to serve our customers and work in a 'new normal' environment safely, effectively and with confidence".

IPF specialises in providing unsecured consumer credit to more than two million customers across 11 markets.

The firm said it maintained tighter credit settings in the period to protect credit quality and manage cashflow and, as forecast, restricted group credit issued to 30 per cent of its original 2020 budget during April and May.

In the near-term, its focus for new lending will continue to be on loyal customers who have strong credit quality characteristics.

IPF expects volumes to increase moderately in June as lockdown restrictions are eased and its collections performance continues to improve.

Group collections effectiveness improved to 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels in May, driven largely by European home credit where there was an increase in the proportion of agents visiting customers and alternative repayment options were implemented.

It expects collections effectiveness to progressively improve in the coming months due to the easing of lockdown restrictions in most of its markets.

Gerard Ryan, CEO at IPF plc, said: "I am pleased with the progress we have made since our last trading update. We have adhered to our guiding principles of protecting our people, our customers and our business, and through the huge effort, dedication and response of our teams across the business, we have improved our collections effectiveness.

"We have a resilient business and as restrictions ease further, I am confident that we will increase our volume of new lending and see a steady improvement in performance.

"It is clear that following the pandemic, the need for a principled and responsible institution that provides finance to underbanked and underserved consumers around the world will be more important than ever. We fully expect to fulfil that role."