Lending Works appointments new board members

The platform is looking to scale its lending operations in 2019 and beyond and has added its board with individuals from from Pollen Street Capital, Maven Capital Partners & CMC Markets.

Consumer focused P2P platform Lending Works has added three new board members in a bid to continue its recent high growth and meet “ambitious goals” for 2019, the company said in a statement.

The peer-to-peer lender has appointed Simon Waugh, former Chairman of CMC Markets, Deputy CEO of British Gas, Paul Noble, CEO of Honeycomb Finance, a Pollen Street Capital business, and Melanie Goward, Investment Director of Maven Capital Partners.

Launched in 2014, Lending Works has facilitated £150m in lending and has long the largest P2P consumer lender behind market leaders Zopa and RateSetter. A large  proportion of this, c.£67m) coming his year.

The platform says that investors can earn 6.5 per cent  interest, tax free if via an ISA.

Lending Works said in a media release: “Each new member brings a new, complementary skill set to the table, from a seasoned executive who served as an executive for British Gas and Chairman CMC Markets, to the CEO of a Honeycomb Finance, which simplifies loans for customers, and an Investment Director with impressive technology-based expertise.”

Nick Harding, CEO and Co-Founder of Lending Works, says, the firm is “targeting huge growth” that the new board members will be key in helping with.

“Each new member brings diverse knowledge and expertise that will support us in re-inventing UK consumer finance and becoming the leader in fair finance.”

Simon Waugh says, “Looking at Lending Works’ history and impressive growth over the last five years I am thrilled to be joining its board of directors. The company has the potential to change how consumers access finance, making the industry fairer. I look forward to being part of a very exciting future for Lending Works.”

Lending Works scooped £2.8m in fundraising in July but, as revealed exclusively by AltFi, it soon after saw its enviable partnership with banking challenger Revolut put into question as the firm announced that it would bring lending “in-house’.

Although it is important to note that with regards to the partnership nothing has changed yet.