Former TSB and Virgin Money boss Paul Pester has taken on the role of chair at Firenze, a Manchester-based embedded finance startup that helps wealth managers offers customers loans secured against their investment pots.
Firenze is looking to work with brokers, wealth managers and investment platforms to bring so-called 'Lombard Loans' to Britain's 13 million mass affluent customers.
While Lombard loans have typically been reserved for the super wealthy clients of private banks, Firenze helps people get quick access to loan sizes starting from £65,000 today and, subject to FCA authorisation, from as low as £25,000 next year.
The startup - which raised £750,000 in pre-see funding earlier this year - has built a propriety platform, white label product and connected APIs to enable wealth managers, advisors and investment platforms to easily offer Lombard loans without the need to move custody.
Now the firm has attracted heavyweight Pester, who left TSB in 2018 in the wake of a major IT meltdown at the bank that saw customer plagued by online and mobile problems for months.
He also held senior roles at Lloyds Bank and Santander before more recently focusing on fintech ventures, founding money sharing app Loop, which was last year acquired by Tandem Bank, where he now serves as chair.
Joining Pester as non-executive directors are Barclays veteran Samantha Bamert and co-founder of wealth manager Artorius Mike Toole.
Says Pester: "Lombard lending is one of the best kept secrets of the super wealthy - enabling quick access to cash without having to sell investments. It’s great to be able to bring this to over 13 million UK consumers who have built-up savings and investments over £50,000 through their advisors."