Interview: Geoffrey Ognall, Chairman of Legal & Trade Financial Services

Q. Tell us how you got started in the collections business.

A. I was in my first year of a business degree at University in Glasgow when my late father became unwell. I went into the family business for a "short term period" to help out and never returned to my studies!

Q. Growing up, did you ever think you would leave the family business for another vocation?

A. Not really – I just loved the challenge and responsibilities of building up Legal & Trade and working closely with such great people.

Q. What particular challenges and rewards motivated you to stay in collections?

A. Building a company that delivers differential results gave me then, and still does, the greatest satisfaction, and with a quality product comes career and financial progression, together with meeting super people in the client base and within the industry, many of whom have become lifetime close friends.

Q. Given your experience with US collection firms, what differences are there in collection operations in the US and the UK?

A. The UK was slower to adopt telephony as the main weapon of collection activity. But once we "caught up", and with technology being available to all everywhere, the differences have narrowed. I would say the US is again slightly ahead in Analytics as a powerful collection tool, but UK firms, particularly Legal & Trade, are catching up fast. One remaining differential is that in the UK a field force of collection agents exists that goes around "knocking on doors" as part of the collection process (albeit a reducing dependency). Consumer collection activity in the UK consists of three phases: Phase 1 – letter and telephone, Phase 2 – legal process and Phase 3 – personal home collection visits by a field force of trained collection agents.

Q. Are there different sets of laws governing the activities of collectors in the US and in the UK, and in Europe in general?

A. When I first became acquainted with the US marketplace I was taken aback by the extent of regulatory requirements in the US and this has increased tremendously over the years. In both the UK and the rest of Europe, whilst there is an appropriate level of legislation and regulations, the legal restrictions are far less than what is imposed in the US.