Funding Options names Simon Cureton as interim chief executive
FUNDING Options has appointed Simon Cureton as interim chief executive, following the departure of founder and chief executive Conrad Ford last month.
Cureton (pictured) joined the business finance marketplace in May of this year as commercial director. Prior to this, he was a founding member of business finance provider Esme Loans.
In his new role, Cureton will lead the growth and expansion of Funding Options across the UK and Europe. He will also accelerate the firm’s Open Banking innovation and will spearhead product diversification in the coming months.
“It’s an incredible time for Funding Options as we embark on the next stage of our journey towards becoming Europe’s prime fintech for small and medium business services,” Cureton said.
“We are seeing accelerated growth and a desire from our customers to help them at all stages in their journey, not just when they need funding.
“We have grown rapidly in the last 12 months and we expect to continue growing in the region of 15-20 per cent quarter-on-quarter. We will be launching into new international markets, expanding our product offering, and increasing Open Banking adoption to drive new product innovation.
“Open Banking presents a hugely exciting opportunity for both our business and the thousands of small and medium sized businesses we serve. With our new and deeply experienced executive team, we are ideally placed to take advantage of these opportunities.”
Funding Options will be focused on its Open Banking solutions throughout 2020, and Cureton will be implementing a new organisational structure for the business to ensure that it is best positioned to leverage these growth opportunities.
Funding Options is also planning to expand its range of services, from lending, through credit cards to the wider business services market, while enhancing its technology to allow for better loan matching and automation.
“In this time of growth and with huge opportunity of Open Banking ahead of us, we are investing in radical innovation and new business models to move from start-up to scale-up,” said Nick Ogden, non-executive chairman of Funding Options.
“We are therefore delighted to announce that Simon Cureton has been appointed to lead the business to the next level. Simon has a wealth of experience in digital innovation, growth fintechs and investment banking, as well as an impressive track record managing and coaching teams, which makes him uniquely qualified to lead the business and deliver our strategy in this next phase.
“As we continue our scale-up journey to help even more businesses access the finance they need, we know his commercial experience and international expertise will be invaluable to our success.”
Read more: Open Banking access ‘improving’, but most banks still fall short