26 June 2018. 4finance Group S.A. (the “Group”), one of Europe’s largest digital consumer lending groups, announces the appointment of Oyvind Oanes as Group CEO from 1 August 2018. A proven consumer finance leader, Oanes succeeds Mark Ruddock, who will return to the Group’s supervisory board after his agreed term as CEO.
Oanes joins from the role as CEO of Numbrs Personal Finance AG, a Fintech consumer banking platform with growing operations in Germany and the UK. A native Norwegian, Oanes has nearly two decades of experience from retail banking and has held senior roles across Europe, including building a consumer finance business for GE Capital in Russia, leading the turnaround of Austria’s Bawag PSK’s retail banking business and running Raiffeisen Bank International’s multi-country online bank ZUNO.
“Having led the search for the permanent CEO of 4finance, I am pleased we are now able to welcome Oyvind, who brings a wealth of experience in various critical areas of consumer lending across Europe, with emphasis on CEE, and has considerable experience of developing digital and mobile-first transactional and deposit-taking platforms. This rare combination of skills is particularly well-suited to 4finance as we continue to grow and diversify the business”, said Lado Gurgenidze, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of 4finance Group S.A. “I’d like to thank Mark Ruddock for laying down the foundations of 4finance’s transformation over the past year, and I look forward to continuing to work with him on the supervisory board moving forward.”
Mark Ruddock said: “Over the past year we’ve worked hard as a team to develop the foundations for an exciting and sustainable future, including a new IT platform, a more customer-centric organisation, emerging near prime capabilities and a securitisation and funding platform. All four areas of strategic emphasis are now at the point of implementation, and I am proud of the progress the company has achieved in the last year. We have identified a great CEO for the business, and I look forward to working with Oyvind to continue to realise the potential of 4finance.”
Oanes commented: “4finance is one of the ‘best kept secrets in Fintech’, but having issued over 17 million loans across 17 markets, this business has real scale and a wealth of know-how and operational strengths. I am excited at the opportunity we have to streamline and improve the borrowing experience for our expanding client base and to continue to grow the business by executing on the great foundation that Mark and the team have built.”
Oyvind has also held several non-executive roles at various financial services institutions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in management and in marketing.
