SME debt finance platform, CODE Investing, has appointed Borro chairman, John Allbrook, as a non-executive director and Mark Collings as chief commercial officer.

Allbrook spend many years at GE Capital. From 2010-2015 he was chairman of Syscap, a supplier of financial products to the professions and IT leasing markets, which was sold to the Wesleyan in 2015 after five consecutive years of growth.

More recently (2016-2018), he was chairman of Franchise Finance, a finance company focused on supplying working capital facilities, loans and leases to start-up franchisees. Franchise Finance was acquired by Hitachi Capital UK in June 2018.

Allbrook is currently chairman of Borro Private Finance, a secured lender in the luxury asset market, and chairman of Cellesce, a biotechnology company.

Mark Collings has over three decades of banking and business experience in a wide variety of senior leadership roles in the commercial finance arena, all of which have focused on helping UK SMEs secure funding and grow.

Previously, he headed up the international, working capital and commercial management teams for both Barclays’ and Santander’s UK operations. He also owns a family run SME business in the leisure sector.

Ayan Mitra, CEO, CODE Investing, said: “We are thrilled to announce that John Allbrook has joined the board of CODE as a non-executive director and Mark Collings as chief commercial officer. John is an experienced and highly regarded business leader, who has spent much of the past 10 years involved with new platforms that vastly improve the finance options for UK SMEs by providing access to non-bank lenders.

“Mark, meanwhile, has more than 30 years of experience in banking and SME finance, which will also prove invaluable as we set out to scale up our operations and increase our market share.”

Allbrook said: “The shape of the UK SME financing market has changed markedly since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. During the past ten years many new alternative and specialist finance platforms have been launched. However, none in my view have such exciting prospects as CODE Investing and that is why I am truly excited to be joining the board of the company at this time.”

Collings added: “There are challenging times ahead in the UK banking and finance markets, with considerable change already underway. The CODE Investing platform, which provides rapid and easy access to non-bank loans, is already proving a gamechanger within SME finance and is truly bridging the funding gap. I am excited to be helping lead all commercial aspects of the business as we set out to deliver value for UK growth businesses, financial institutions and CODE shareholders alike.”