Malcolm Leach joins SME financing marketplace Funding Options as CTO

SME digital finance platform Funding Options has appointed Malcolm Leach as its new chief technology officer (CTO).

Funding Options hires Malcolm Leach as CTO

The appointment comes after the lending marketplace experienced its strongest quarter since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Leach has almost 30 years worth of experience in the tech space and has held senior roles at Swiss Life AG, Capgemini and Virgin Media, among others. Leach joins Funding Options from UK investing fintech Flagstone, where he spent three years as CTO.

Leach says: “SMEs are critical to the economy but have been historically underserved when it comes to accessing finance. As UK businesses look to recover from Covid whilst also managing inflationary forces, access to fast and appropriate business finance has never been more important.”

Funding Options’ Funding Cloud platform, launched in April 2021, attempts to bridge the SME funding gap by providing real-time lending options from more than 120 lenders.

The company utilises data, open banking and embedded finance to power its auto-decisioning platform. It claims to have helped more than 11,000 businesses across the UK and the Netherlands secure more than £600 million worth of funding.