ParkinsonbeSavvi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finance Director​
Leeds
£90-£100K + Bonus + Executive Benefits Package

 

Parkinson Lee Executive Search, part of the Elevation Recruitment Group, is acting as retained partner to beSavvi as they seek to appoint a new Finance Director.

Part of leading financial services company Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC, beSavvi are a recently established, entrepreurial, fast growing consumer lending business, which in the first two years of trading has already loaned over £60million.

Having established themselves in the personal lending marketplace, beSavvi are set for an exciting period of growth and continued success and as a result, there is now the need to appoint a Finance Director.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the primary purpose of this newly created position is to design and build a first class, market-leading finance function which is fit for purpose within an exciting business with significant growth plans. The successful candidate will be a detail-oriented finance executive, who will not only ensure regular reporting, and reconciliations and returns are completed, but also have the strategic capability to build a finance function that encompasses financial reporting, risk management, and financial planning and analysis, whilst managing expected rapid growth.

This role will be a key contact point for third party interactions with, amongst others, suppliers, lenders, regulators, and shareholders. It will play an active role in the executive team, and provide an appropriate level of challenge to the business, sense-checking their assumptions and ensuring the overall level of profitability is in line with plan.

Key focus areas and deliverables will include:

Strategy and Planning

  • Developing short and medium-term organisational design structure for the Finance function
  • Producing and coordinating sign-off of financial strategies, policies, and budgets
  • Monitoring the implementation of the strategic plan, including regularly reporting variances and key performance indicators
  • Managing core wholesale funding relationships and cultivating a pipeline of debt funding sources
  • Working with the executive team to define the business strategy, and evaluate potential investments and/or divestments

Regulatory and Statutory Reporting

  • Producing BeSavvi statutory accounts
  • Managing all tax related reporting
  • Building an effective relationship with external auditors to ensure smooth and efficient annual audit process
  • Managing and resolving issues raised by auditors

Commercial Support

  • Producing market analysis, including competitor benchmarking, and identifying areas for expansion, contraction, and related opportunities
  • Supplying funding cost assumptions to the business for the purposes of product development
  • Undertaking investment appraisal of opportunities, and provide advice and guidance on acquisitions and portfolio purchases
  • Developing and communicating a methodology for the allocation of overhead costs, ensuring that the business adequately provides for overhead costs, when reporting on performance against plan

Treasury

  • Providing funding assumptions to guide the annual planning and forecasting process
  • Working with the Hitachi Treasury function (or other Treasury function, as appropriate) to ensure adequate funding is in place and accounted for in the pricing of future business
  • Monitoring cash balances and forecasts

Financial Reporting & Management Information

  • Ensuring that appropriate and challenging KPI’s are set, and manage the process through to sign-off
  • Communicating the KPI’s and regularly review progress against targets
  • Producing management accounts, including portfolio analysis, and analysis of underlying profitability
  • Reporting the financial position of the business to the Board, recommending future initiatives

Oversight of Third Parties

  • Overseeing the outsourced transaction services system and any outsourced accountancy processes
  • Management of the company pension scheme (where appropriate)
  • Maintaining banking relationships

Financial Risk Management

  • Understanding and mitigating key elements of the company’s risk profile, working directly with the Chief Risk Officer and Chief Executive Officer in this respect
  • Constructing and monitoring reliable control systems
  • Ensuring that record keeping meets the requirements of auditors and regulators
  • Reporting risk issues to the Board
  • Ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation, specifically that which relates to Data Protection, Money Laundering, and Treating the Customer Fairly (‘TCF’), and attend update training as may be required from time to time

The successful candidate will require the following:

  • ACA / ACCA / CIMA qualification, with at least 5 years PQE
  • Strong leadership capabilities
  • Proven strategic and commercial thinker
  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to advise and influence at Board level
  • Thorough understanding of financial markets
  • In-depth understanding of risk and pricing models
  • Prior experience within financial services would be advantageous

This role will provide a rare and exceptional opportunity to play a key part in the leadership, overall direction, and subsequent success, of a business primed for considerable growth.