You raised a topic that has occupied my mind for a long time, but my concern level is not such as to give me sleepless nights.
What made McLay so important was that he was an astute man who understood CCP, and the stupidity that led to its near demise, and he recognised in Beregi the perfect clay to uplift to the CEO role, and Berei knew what lower-level managers to replace. Further, McLay invested heavily in CCP at very low prices, so he was not the usual yes-man Chairman that is so commonly found in ASX-listed companies. McLay is about 80 years old, so his resignation was no surprise, and with the well-moulded Beregi in place as CEO, the significance of McLay is much less now than it was in 2008 and some years after that.
Thomas Beregi is a relatively young man, and well paid for doing a sterling job, so I think he will hang about. Perhaps in a decade or so, he could semi-retire as Chairman. If you read my posts you may know that I regard Beregi's throw-away comment in an interview about a year ago that he would like to see CCP in the ASX Top 100 – see my post 56843099 . I think he will stay on until CCP gets into the Top 100, which loosely speaking, requires CCP to grow by 35-40%, which is not a big ask if one considers the substantial runway CCP has in North America. The major suppliers of PDLs in any geography prefer to have a competitive PDL-buying scenario, so there is always room for a few significant buyers. Consequently, in North America, CCP can find a comfortable home as the third or fourth larest PDL buyer in a geography that, loosely speaking, is fifteen times the business potential of ANZ.
I personally do not think that running a business like CCP requires extraordinary talent, but it does require an ethical mindset, and that has been what sets CCP apart from many other firms in the debt collecting game. I get the feeling that Encore Capital may too have realised that a conservative ethical approach to debt collecting works better than the swashbuckling-buccaneer style of yesteryear, but Encore is so dominant in the USA, that it is easier for it to expand into Europe than in the USA, just as it is difficult for CCP to expand meaningfully in Australia.
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