The founder of p2p lending site Funding Circle has announced his decision to step down from the listed Funding Circle SME Income Fund, after being on the board since its launch in 2015.
Samir Desai, the platform’s founder and chief executive, has been both a non-executive and non-independent director of Funding Circle SME Income Fund since its inception. He will be replaced by Sachin Patel, Funding Circle’s chief capital officer, who was highly instrumental in the company’s flotation and helped negotiate its financing by the European Investment Bank.
The news comes just as Funding Circle announced that is has received full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority, putting Funding Circle in a position to launch an Innovative Finance ISA, subject to approval by HMRC.
James Meekings, UK Managing Director and co-founder of Funding Circle, commented: “Our vision is to support thousands of people across the UK to earn stable, industry leading returns by lending directly to small businesses. With more than 60,000 investors now regularly lending through Funding Circle, we are on track to becoming a mainstream investment choice for investors up and down the country.”
Funding Circle is a platform facilitating lending to small businesses from a wide range of investors including 60,000 individuals, local authorities, the UK government-owned British Business Bank, the European Investment Bank and financial institutions such as pension funds.