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Australasian marketplace lender Harmoney has announced the appointment of a new chief executive to drive growth in Australia and New Zealand.
Marketplace lender Harmoney has announced that former FlexiGroup chief financial officer and managing director David Stevens will lead its business from early 2020, replacing joint-CEOs Neil Roberts and Brad Hagstrom.
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Mr Stevens, a qualified chartered accountant, will join the New Zealand-founded lender on 1 September 2019 to start the transition process.
Harmoney said the appointment frees Mr Roberts to focus on strategy and product, while Mr Hagstrom will move to the role of chief operating officer.
The incoming CEO previously led MiFund, a provider of medical payment options for Australian patients backed by Bank of Queensland.
Prior to that, Mr Stevens was the CFO and managing director at non-bank commercial and consumer finance provider FlexiGroup, where he directed a number of mergers and acquisitions, including of Fisher & Paykel Finance. During the near-decade tenure, he helped grow FlexiGroup to a $1-billion ASX 200-listed company.
The incoming CEO, who was also a senior manager at PwC, said he can draw on his experience to add value to Harmoney, particularly the Australian side of the business.
“The senior leadership has done a fantastic job driving Harmoney to this point, it is now a mature business and I can be useful as we take the business to the next level. The performance of Harmoney to date has been miles ahead of the Australian competition,” he said.
Commenting on Mr Stevens’ appointment, Mr Roberts, who previously worked with the incoming CEO at FlexiGroup, said: “There are few people in Australasia who can match him for consumer finance and capital markets experience, which is invaluable as we move into the next phase of growth for Harmoney.
“David recognises that there is a tremendous opportunity to equal and surpass the New Zealand growth rate in Australia relative to the size of the market, and he is the right person to lead this given his intimate knowledge of both countries’ financial services sectors.”
Harmoney’s loan volume has reportedly exceeded $1.2 billion (across 59,000 loans), $100 million of which has been facilitated in the Australian market.
[Related: New marketplace aims to help borrowers determine realistic rates]
