Providian CFO Resigns After Rough Year

Jim Rowe, chief financial officer for Providian Financial Corp., has resigned to pursue other activities, the company announced in a statement. The company has retained executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates to recruit a new CFO.

Rowe’s resignation comes after the San Francisco-based credit card and deposit products marketer reported net income of $38.9 million during 2001, compared with net income of $651.8 million a year earlier. The company’s revenue rose from $5.76 billion to just under $6.3 billion during the same period.

Providian had previously announced plans to explore selling $3 billion of higher-risk credit card receivable. It also discontinued marketing to the sub-prime credit segment, tightened credit lines across all segments and selectively re-priced loans that have increased risk levels.