BNP Paribas Personal Finance, formerly known as LaSer UK, is a British and Irish provider of

consumer finance Personal finance is the financial management that an individual or a family unit performs to budget, save, and spend monetary resources in a controlled manner, taking into account various financial risks and future life events. When planning ...

. It operates in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland. The company administers credit and loyalty programmes for other businesses across multiple sectors, including retail, household, insurance, entertainment and leisure. BNP Paribas Personal Finance manages four million customers and 300 UK partnerships. , it had financed £1.6 billion in credit. The company's operations are in

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

and Belfast, where it employs 740 people. BNP Paribas Personal Finance consists of two separate companies ''Creation Financial Services Limited'', and ''Creation Consumer Finance Limited'', collectively trading under the name of ''Creation''. BNP Paribas Personal Finance is fully owned by the France-based

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (; sometimes referred to as BNPP or BNP) is a French multinational universal bank and financial services holding company headquartered in Paris. It was founded in 2000 from the merger of two of France's foremost financial instituti ...

History

The company began its existence in 1973 as the financial services arm of

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

department store providing credit to its customers. The company eventually became SearsCard, with its primary function to provide store card facilities for retail companies within the Sears PLC Group. In the late nineties, the company was rebranded as Creation Financial Services Ltd. In 1999, Creation Financial Services Ltd. was acquired by LaSer, a European provider of credit and loyalty customer programmes based in Paris, jointly owned by

and

Galeries Lafayette Galeries Lafayette () is an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris but it now operates a number of locations in France and other countries ...

. In 2004, Creation expanded into co-brand credit cards with the launch of a number of programmes with football clubs, providing credit cards to clubs in the Premiership and

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

. In 2006, Creation acquired Belfast-based Open and Direct Retail Services (ODRS). In 2007, the LaSer Group was formed by Creation's parents, including rebranding the group companies across Europe and LaSer UK was formed. In 2008, it in-sourced its customer services and collections teams. In 2010 LaSer UK announced it would be supplying fixed term credit for DSG International the owners of Dixons, Currys and PC World. In 2012 LaSer UK announced a partnership with retailer

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

, to provide the Asda Money Credit Card. The new partnership created 100 new jobs at LaSer UK's Solihull call centre.http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/birmingham-business-news/other-uk-business/2012/08/03/solihull-firm-laser-uk-lands-asda-cashback-contract-65233-31534992/ In 2017 LaSer UK rebranded itself as BNP Paribas Personal Finance.

Products

BNP Paribas Personal Finance provides consumer finance, including retail point of sale finance, credit cards, affinity loans and insurance premium finance.

References

{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1973 Companies based in Solihull 1973 establishments in England BNP Paribas