Latitude Financial has revealed expenses and provisions amounting to $76 million in relation to the cyber incident that occurred in mid-March, during which approximately 225,000 customer records were compromised.
The financial services firm disclosed these pre-tax costs and provisions as part of its report, detailing a statutory after-tax loss of $98.2 million from ongoing operations for the first half of 2023, a range that had been previously communicated.
The company also confirmed that it had incurred $53 million in post-tax cyber-related costs, consistent with its initial market guidance.
Latitude’s Managing Director and CEO, Bob Belan, acknowledged that the company’s management actions were yielding positive results, despite the ongoing tightening of monetary policies. However, he highlighted the significant impact of the mid-March cyber attack on business operations and performance during the first half of the year.
In the aftermath of the cyber attack, the company faced a six-week period during which new originations ceased, receivables decreased, pricing actions were put on hold, and collections activities were greatly disrupted.
Belan commended Latitude’s team for swiftly and securely restoring systems and rebuilding business momentum. He noted that by the end of June, volumes had returned to pre-incident levels, planned pricing changes were executed, and concerted efforts by the collections team led to a substantial reduction in delinquency rates that had spiked during the offline period.
Reflecting on the past six months, Belan acknowledged that they had been the most challenging in the company’s history, but he expressed confidence in the resilience of the company, its people, and its business model.
He also emphasized that there were ongoing matters that needed resolution in the aftermath of the cyber incident.
