LONDON: The board of H&T Group Plc announced the appointment of Chris Gillespie as chief executive officer of the Group.
Subject to the necessary regulatory approvals, his appointment will be effective from 1 January 2021, following the retirement of John Nichols. Gillespie joined H&T in September 2020 as an executive director, as part of a planned succession for Nichols.
Peter McNamara, Chairman of H&T, said: “Chris has excellent experience from senior roles in consumer finance including Barclays, Bradford and Bingley, Albemarle and Bond, Amigo Loans, 118118Money.
“Most recently Chris was managing director of consumer credit division at Provident Financial PLC. His understanding of our industry and business, and the importance of a combined store and digital network makes him an excellent choice. I strongly believe that Chris, as CEO, will bring skills and enthusiasm to further strengthen our growing customer focused business.”
Gillespie added: “I am delighted to have joined H&T. It is truly a people business providing a valued and valuable service through our recently expanded network of 252 stores, alongside our support centres in Sutton, Liverpool and Rochester. I am looking forward to building on the excellent progress made under John’s leadership. We have a strong and experienced management team and our focus will be on growing the core pawnbroking business while investing further to continue to improve our digital capabilities to deliver our broad range of products and services to our customers.”
H&T Group plc is incorporated in England and is the UK’s leading pawnbroker. H&T provides a range of simple and accessible financial products tailored for a customer base who have limited access to, or are excluded from, the traditional banking and finance sector.