“There will simply be four main payday loan providers operating in the sector.”

It was the claim created by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) back 2014, when I sat in a seminar that is crowded surrounded by other payday loan providers and agents. Because of the FCA taking over through the workplace of Fair Trading that 12 months, numerous industry players had been anticipating a shake-up as directors of pay day loan businesses and I also huddled into this space looking to get some understanding of the pending legislation.

Needless to say, we laughed from the notion of a business with only four players. At this time, payday financing was in fact a booming company with an industry valuation of £2 billion, over 3 million loans funded each year, around 200 loan providers, and much more than 200 agents, effortlessly. The industry had been saturated in playboys on yachts, worldwide millionaires, and soft regulation – how had been it likely to be changed therefore drastically?

Fast ahead 5 years later on in addition to controversial industry has changed significantly with increasingly more lenders starting management.