Divisional Chief Financial Officer — Digital Lending Portfolio

The mandate

A multinational owner is considering a strategic transaction involving its UK digital lending division. Two years of uneven execution mean the business cannot yet present independent economics with sufficient confidence. Funding, technology and corporate services are shared; acquisition reporting does not follow customers through loss and collections; and margin compression is described through averages that conceal weak vintages. Before any transaction path is chosen, the board needs a stand-alone financial truth.

The new Divisional Chief Financial Officer will steward approximately £5,100 million of assets and investments and lead around 250 employees and material partners. The role spans controllership, planning, treasury, tax, procurement, commercial finance, finance data and transaction readiness. It reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee while working closely with group finance and the risk and people committees.

The appointee must construct carve-out accounts without letting the transaction timetable distort operating judgement. They will allocate shared costs on a defensible basis, identify services requiring transitional support and show prospective stand-alone cash, capital and liquidity. Product and vintage profitability must incorporate acquisition, expected loss, funding, servicing, collections and technology consumption. These facts may improve, narrow or halt the strategic case.

Data lineage will be part of valuation, not a technical appendix. If loan balances, customer cohorts and finance ledgers reconcile only through unexplained adjustments, both management confidence and buyer diligence will suffer. The CFO must specify which evidence is authoritative, retire competing measures and attach ownership to every material bridge.

Margin action cannot wait for a deal. The CFO will identify repricing, funding, channel and portfolio choices that strengthen value under ownership, separation or continued operation. Board papers should expose downside and dependencies, not manufacture a sale narrative.

Why this seat is open

The role is a planned new appointment approved for the next operating model, not an incumbent replacement. A four-to-six-month search allows arrival before the next capital and talent cycle. Existing leaders retain formal accountability until the remit activates, while confidentiality protects organisation design and transaction options.

What you will own

• Produce stand-alone accounts and a separation perimeter for the digital lending division.
• Reconcile £5,100 million of assets to product, vintage, channel, funding and loss economics.
• Quantify shared services, stranded cost, transitional arrangements and one-off separation expenditure.
• Strengthen forecast, close, balance-sheet substantiation, liquidity and capital planning.
• Build a transaction data room whose claims reconcile to ordinary board reporting.
• Challenge growth and pricing using risk-adjusted lifetime contribution.
• Lead approximately 250 employees and partners and remove key-person control dependencies.
• Present value under transaction, delay and retain scenarios with explicit decision gates.

The first 12 months

The opening 90 days should settle the legal, operational and financial perimeter. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to independent economics, including group service owners, funders, product leaders, risk, auditors and advisers. Reconcile key balances and test the largest cost allocations. Assess finance leadership, stabilise reporting and agree a board scorecard that prevents diligence requests from displacing statutory or regulatory duties.

Between months four and nine, deliver credible carve-out accounts, a stand-alone forecast and the first risk-adjusted vintage view. Negotiate service assumptions, fill leadership gaps and expose stranded-cost ownership. Release measurable cash or capacity through funding, pricing, procurement or process decisions that remain valuable in every strategic scenario.

By year end, stand-alone controls, value visibility and transaction readiness should be repeatable rather than adviser-dependent. The first-year case must be within 10% of baseline. Forecasts should reconcile operating, cash, customer and people assumptions for three consecutive quarters. Priority risks must close by approved dates with independent evidence; no high-severity matter may remain unresolved for more than 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Reconciliation of carve-out accounts, management information and transaction materials.
• Margin and cash visibility by product, vintage, channel and funding source.
• Accuracy of shared-cost, stranded-cost and transitional-service assumptions.
• Liquidity and capital resilience under retain, delay and transaction scenarios.
• Hold regretted loss among critical finance staff below 10% and establish ready-now cover for seven in ten direct reports.
• Data-owned improvement in margin compression and closure of transaction-critical controls.

The person

You are a Divisional CFO, Business CFO or Finance Director with 22–28 years in financial services or another regulated, data-intensive business. You have signed or directly owned board financial statements, liquidity decisions and investment cases at material scale. Carve-out, IPO, disposal or independent-business preparation is strongly relevant.

You have carried at least £2,950 million of P&L, assets, budget or accountable portfolio and led no fewer than 175 people; the present team perimeter is approximately 250. You can explain a transaction-readiness decision that improved ordinary operations, and an occasion when evidence caused you to challenge the preferred strategic story.

You bring technical control, commercial judgement and calm treatment of confidential alternatives. Pure deal advisory without direct controllership and operating-finance accountability is insufficient.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is £290,000–390,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. The permanent role is onsite in London; international relocation and up to six months’ notice can be supported. Final mix will reflect the confirmed separation perimeter.

Confidentiality

The client, footprint and transaction history will be shared only with qualified candidates under mutual confidentiality. Composite facts must not be reverse-engineered or circulated.