The sector is difficult to define, because firms in the sector...

The sector is difficult to define, because firms in the sector tend to have related businesses, like being a credit provider (lending). Some firms buy debt and collect on it, plus they collect debts as a service on a contingency basis, and for all I know, some may only be in the one or the other.

The better quality debt is charged off by banks and utilities in that order of quality, and these sellers tend to only deal with large debt buyers like CCP. PNC and CLH were significant players in the better-quality-debt field, but I suspect their suppliers may have second thoughts about them now, and both PNC and CLH have lost access to cheap and easy finance for purchasing debtors ledgers.

There are hundreds of small firms in the sector, some virtually one-person businesses. According to See http://www.acdba.com/images/acdba/media/Research-into-Australian-debt-collection-industry_May15.pdf 95% of the firms employ less than 20 people. These firms may specialise in niches, and I would assume some have an ethnic bias. Also see https://www.acdba.com/index.php/industry-demographics

CCP is the largest company in the debt-buying game in Australia, and probably NZ. CCP on a smaller scale offers collections as a service, and it has an unsecured loan business. It has over the years acquired two debt collection businesses from Keith John of PNC fame, a business from TGA, and in recent times Bayview from its USA owner, Encore Capital.

I am unaware of such companies listed on the ASX, other than CCP, CLH and PNC. the latter two seemed to be more aggresive than CCP in respect to revenue and profit recognition and the use of debt to fund purchasing Purchased Debtors Ledgers, which probably accounts for much of their current woes. The matter of ethics may have been a factor, but I do not like malign the quick (people still living).