MarketFinance appoints Lib Dem peer to oversee grant spending

Liberal Democrat peer Susan Kramer has been appointed by MarketFinance to an internal committee overseeing how its £10m Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) grant is spent.

The alternative business and invoice finance provider has appointed Baroness Kramer and Shalini Khemka, director of entrepreneur network E2Exchange to its grant supervisory committee (GSC).

They will act as external advisors on a committee including two MarketFinance board members and staff to supervise how the grant funds are spent.

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Baroness Kramer brings experience as part of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and as a member of the Treasury select committee.

“Apart from her significant career in private sector banking and financial consulting, Baroness Kramer has been a huge advocate of the fintech industry to both the government and the Bank of England,” MarketFinance said.

“Currently she is a member of the EU goods sub-committee, as well as the Finance Bill sub-committee.

“As Liberal Democrat Lords spokesperson for the Treasury and economy since 2015 too, she’s a well-known and respected voice in all things finance.”

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A second group within MarketFinance, the programme implementation committee (PIC) – will coordinate decision making for the grant on a day-to-day basis.

It is chaired by MarketFinance chief finance officer Tom Stenhouse, along with other members of our leadership team but is accountable to the GSC.

The BCR scheme was set up by the UK government to distribute £775m from Royal Bank of Scotland as a condition of its state bailout in 2008.

MarketFinance secured a £10m grant in September and said it would be used to offer more choice to customers and expand its client base by expanding to sole traders and low turnover small- and medium-sized enterprises.