BUZZ-Provident Financial: bottom of FTSE 250 after Barclays downgrades
** British subprime lender Provident Financial (Other OTC: FPLPF - news) down c8 pct after Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) downgrades to "underweight" ahead of Q3 update on Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) 13
** Barclays cautious on the shares given its lack of confidence for a turnaround of the Home Credit business and the unquantifiable size of potential FCA redress
** Broker perceives further tail risks of PFG not being able to meet its Oct-19 debt obligation, breaching of debt covenants and the impact of IFRS9 accounting
** Stock extends losses from Tuesday when Information Commissioner's Office fined Provident's subsidiary Vanquis Bank for sending out spam emails to promote its credit cards
** Stock down 55% since second profit warning, in August
** Provident second top faller on Stoxx 600 & bottom of FTSE 250 on Wednesday (Reuters Messanging: aniruddha.c.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)