Kreditech appoints new CEO, Giles Andrews to chair advisory board

The German consumer finance fintech has announced a quartet of senior hires.

Giles Andrews OBE, of Zopa fame, has secured another chairman role. One of the co-founders and formerly CEO of the world’s first peer-to-peer lender, Zopa, Andrews transitioned to the role of executive chairman at the company in 2015. He then joined leading business finance firm MarketInvoice as non-executive chairman in March 2017, in addition to having served as chairman of Bethnal Green Ventures, an impact accelerator for technology firms, since early 2015.

Andrews now adds Kreditech to the stable of fintech firms he must oversee, as chairman of its advisory board.

Kreditech targets the underbanked with products that include a digital wallet, a personal finance manager and a broad range of loan types, including micro-loans and point-of-sale solutions. The firm uses machine learning to power lending decisions, and is active across multiple markets around the world.

In addition to securing the services of Andrews, Kreditech has announced David Chan as its new chief executive officer. Chan boasts more than 20 years in financial services, most notably serving as chief executive officer of Barclaycard Consumer Europe. Under his leadership the credit card company doubled its profits.

Chan takes over from Alexander Graubner-Müller, who will remain with the company as deputy CEO. Graubner-Müller said that Kreditech plans to extend its product offering in ‘major new markets’ this year, including India. He said that Chan’s experience would be invaluable in supporting the firm’s expansion.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead Kreditech in its next phase of growth, and look forward to working with the multi-national team and a seasoned group of shareholders,” said Chan. “Building on the company’s vision to bridge the credit gap for underbanked consumers via the use of technology, we intend to tailor our automated credit product offerings to meet the evolving needs of consumers and partners in rapidly growing economies.”

Kreditech has also announced a new chief financial officer, Mariusz Dabrowski, and a new chief product and technology officer, Todd Simmerman.

The German fintech lender scored a €110m fundraise from PayU, a leading payments provider, in May of last year. Commenting on his appointment as chairman, Andrews said: “I look forward to combining talents with David, Alexander and the Kreditech team on a path of profitable growth and continuing to develop and expand the game-changing partnership opportunities with PayU, among others.”