Funding Circle: Fintech to cut jobs in cost-cutting drive as finance chief steps down

Small business lender Funding Circle plans to cut around 120 jobs as part of efforts to reduce costs and boost its flagging share price. It also announced the departure of its finance chief.

The London-listed fintech said in a stock market update that it had launched cost efficiency measures to create “a simpler, leaner and better positioned UK focused operation”.

It expected to reduce headcount by around 14 per cent compared to the end of last year, excluding roles in the US. Funding Circle employed 1,101 people, including contractors, on 31 December 2023.

Funding Circle is targeting roughly £15m in annualised cost savings in 2025 and said it would recognise around £5m in costs this year to achieve these savings.

“We are pleased to report continued momentum on the path we set out in March to become a simpler, profitable business,” said chief executive Lisa Jacobs.

“The reduction in roles is not a decision we took lightly, and I would like to thank all the departing team for their hard work and commitment.”

The news comes as Funding Circle looks to narrow its focus on its UK business. In March, the group said it was mulling a sale of its loss-making US division, for which it had received bidding interest.

Funding Circle’s shares are down 80 per cent since it listed in London in September 2018. Losses at the group widened to £33.2m in 2023, up from a pretax loss of £12.9m the previous year, after a push into the US and investment into its lend-now-pay-later offer Flexipay.

The firm also announced on Wednesday that chief financial officer Oliver White, who joined Funding Circle in June 2020, would leave the board at the end of this year.

White, who was previously CFO at Vanquis Bank, is due to be succeeded by director of finance and investor relations Tony Nicol, who joined Funding Circle from IG Group in 2018.

Funding Circle added that its performance so far this year was in line with expectations and that it remained on track to meet its full-year guidance, including an eight to 12 per cent pretax profit margin and 10 per cent income growth in UK loans on the previous year.