By Pamela Barbaglia
LONDON - Non-Standard Finance said on Tuesday it has appointed chief financial officer Jono Gillespie as chief executive with immediate effect, as the British subprime lender prepares for a capital hike to shore up reserves and avoid covenant breaches.
Gillespie takes over from previous boss John Van Kuffeler, an industry veteran who set up NSF in 2015 after running home credit group Provident Financial for 22 years.
"Given the pending recapitalisation of the company, we have agreed with John van Kuffeler that we should accelerate the long-planned leadership change and appoint Jono Gillespie as group CEO prior to commencing meetings with investors," said chairman Charles Gregson.
Gillespie, who also worked at Provident as a senior executive, has been deeply involved in discussions over a substantial equity increase that NSF is looking to launch in the third quarter of the year.
He will continue to look after the company's finances while a process to appoint a new chief financial officer is underway, the company said.
Gillespie stressed the cap hike would transform the group's prospects, enabling it "to make the most of the UK economic recovery".
NSF, whose loan book at the end of a pandemic-hit 2020 was just two-thirds of what it was a year earlier, said in June that it was seeking to raise around 80 million pounds ($110.36 million) in the third quarter.
That will potentially be through a share sale backed by its largest investor Alchemy.
The London-based doorstep lender flagged in February that it needed more capital in order to avoid covenant breaches.
($1 = 0.7249 pounds)