The following comes from Encore Capital's June 2023 report, and...

The following comes from Encore Capital's June 2023 report, and in gist it would apply to CCP in the USA.

With lending surpassing pre-pandemic levels and with rising delinquency rates, we have seen an increase in supply.Issuers have continued to sell predominantly fresh portfolios. Fresh portfolios are portfolios that are generally sold within sixmonths of the consumer’s account being charged-off by the financial institution. Pricing in the second quarter continued toimprove as a result of increased supply. Issuers continue to sell their volume in mostly forward flow arrangements that are oftencommitted early in the calendar year. We believe continued growth in lending and/or rising delinquency rates or charge-offrates will drive continued growth in supply.

We believe that smaller competitors continue to face difficulties in the portfolio purchasing market because of the highcost to operate due to regulatory pressure and increasing cost of capital. We believe this favors larger participants, like MCM,because the larger market participants are better able to adapt to these pressures and commit to larger forward flow agreementsand fluctuating volumes.

To the degree that CCP uses less debt leverage than Encore Capital does, it has an advantage over Encore, but considering other factors, CCP and Encore are playing in the same paddling pool, IMO. CCP had to buy their way into the debt-buying fraternity via forward-flow agreements in FY21 and FY22. CCP can now be more tactical, by which I mean decide on the merits of each PDL, rather than being motivated by a long-term strategy to get into that paddling pool.