Linked Finance has appointed Niall O’Grady as the new CEO, according to a note from the company. O’Grady is expected to lead the business through its next stage of growth as the peer to peer lender reports €3 million in lending funded in the first month of approval under the Irish Government’s Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme. Linked Finance can provide a credit decision on unsecured SME loans of up to €250,000 in under 24 hours from receiving an application. Outgoing CEO Niall Dorrian is stepping down but is staying on as non-executive director.
O’Grady has prior experience in the financial sector, most recently as Managing Director of 123.ie and Director of Distribution of RSA. Before that, O’Grady was
Since becoming the first non-bank lender under the Government’s flagship Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme at the beginning of January, Linked Finance has already funded over €3m worth of loans to SME customers. Linked Finance can provide a credit decision on unsecured loans of up to €250,000 in under 24 hours from receiving an application.
Michael Cawley, Chairman of Linked Finance, said he was delighted to have O’Grady as CEO:
“He has an excellent track record at growing financial services companies and we will benefit from his extensive experience building Linked Finance into a high performing, fast growing business. I look forward to working with him. I want to thank Niall Dorrian for his leadership of the company over the last five years. He leaves the business in great health and well poised for strong future growth.”
O’Grady said that Linked Finance is a great company and he is excited for the opportunity to help the online lender grow and to support SMEs in Ireland.
“Talking to customers this week, I can see a clear need for the speed and simplicity of our finance offering. It has been great to join a business just as we start to offer the Government’s Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme to our customers. We have seen record levels of interest and we are able to move very quickly to fund great Irish businesses under this important scheme. The CCGS is designed to offer low cost working capital and capital expenditure loans for businesses affected by Covid-19.”
Since its launch, Linked Finance reports over €143 million in loans to thousands of Irish businesses