Embattled Amigo appoints charted accountant as interim CFO after lender’s most dramatic week ever
Amigo Holdings said this morning it has appointed that Danny Malone will be appointed on an interim basis as Chief Financial Officer, subject to approval by the FCA.
The appointment as CFO is expected to take effect from 7 February 2022 and will be for a four month period. As the appointment is on an interim basis, Malone will not be a director of the company.
He is a chartered accountant with “extensive experience across multiple financial services companies and banks at Board level, mostly operating in the non standard consumer finance sector,” Amigo said in a statement.
Malone co-founded Everyday Loans in 2006 and was finance director until 2013, when, following its acquisition by Secure Trust Bank, he became CEO through to 2018.
Previously Malone was European CFO of CitiFinancial Europe, part of Citigroup. Currently , he is acting as a Non-Executive Chairman of Floan Limited, a start-up fintech business operating in the Buy Now Pay Later sector and as a Non-Executive Director of The Personal Finance Centre Limited, a secured loan broker.
Week from hell
In recent days, Amigo Loans share price recovered modestly after several dramatic days.
Late on Monday night that its chief financial officer, Mike Corcoran, will step down immediate effect.
“The Company anticipates it will be able to announce the appointment of a replacement Chief Financial Officer, in the near future,” Amigo said in a statement sent to City A.M. “Corcoran will continue to support the business through an appropriate handover period.”
Amigo warned on Monday that the company will collapse if a new scheme to pay back customers and restart lending is not approved.
The embattled lender announced plans to raise £97m to compensate customers and £15m to restart lending, warning that the company will enter a wind down scheme or insolvency if it does not receive approval.
Amigo Holdings shares tumbled by 41.9 per cent in the wake of fresh details about its proposed compensation scheme which will see 19 new shares issued for every existing company share as part of plans to repay customers.
Dispute
The lender is facing a drawn out dispute with the High Court for offering irresponsible guarantor loans with an interest rate customers would never have been able to pay back.
“The Board is fully committed to providing the maximum amount of redress possible for qualifying creditors,” said Gary Jennison, the chief executive of Amigo.
“Should creditors vote for the New Business Scheme and the Court subsequently approve it, these provisions provide additional protection for creditors and address certain of the concerns raised by the Court above the previous scheme. They are necessary for Amigo to survive and avoid insolvency.”
Amigo Loans’ previous scheme to repay customers was rejected by the High Court as it could have seen successful complaints receive as little as five per cent to 10 per cent of any successful claim, and capped the compensation pool at £35m and 15 per cent of profits over the next four years.
The court called for higher payments to customers and for equity holders to lose their economic stake in the company if customers were not able to be paid in full.
Addressing these concerns, Amigo Loans’ current plan involves the company issuing at least 19 new shares for every existing share in the company, leaving existing shareholders with less than five per cent of share capital.