Bank of Ireland’s Jim Hickey becomes COO of Finance Ireland

Finance Ireland, the non-bank lender headed by Billy Kane, has recruited Bank of Ireland executive Jim Hickey as its chief operating officer.

Mr Hickey has been director of group finance at Bank of Ireland since 2012, reporting directly to its group chief financial officer Andrew Keating.

He had previously spent six years in senior finance roles with Ulster Bank, and had three years as operations director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa with Hewlett-Packard Financial Services.

Mr Hickey’s recruitment reflects the significant growth of Finance Ireland in the past two years and a desire to beef up its leadership team.

The company secured €25 million in equity funding last year from California-based investment group Pimco, a transaction that valued Finance Ireland at €54 million.

Mr Kane said the company would look to raise an additional €25 million-€30 million this year as it builds out its business in car finance, small and medium-sized (SME) enterprise lending, commercial real estate funding, and loan servicing.

“We will probably raise some additional equity in 2016 and concentrate on building out our franchises,” he said.

Strong growth

Finance Ireland was established by Mr Kane, a former chief executive of

Permanent TSB

, in 2002 and employs more than 90 people. It has net assets in excess of €40 million.

“We’ve enjoyed strong growth across our channels while also entering significant partnerships with key agencies and expanding our shareholder base. So we’re thrilled to be able to attract someone of Jim’s calibre to join the business and I know he’ll make a major contribution to our plans in the years ahead.”

Finance Ireland recently became the first non-bank to be approved as an on-lender – allowing them to lend money they have borrowed from other sources – for the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, with €50 million of funding for its leasing business to SMEs.

In March, it joined forces with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Glanbia to launch the Milkflex financing programme, which links the interest rate chargeable on agricultural finance to the price of milk.

Loan administration

Finance Ireland will manage loan administration and credit approval for these borrowings.

On trading in the current year, Mr Kane said: “This quarter has been great. There’s a real buzz in the market and we’re busy, busy at the moment. The economy also seems to be going well outside Dublin. There’s been a good lift in Cork, Galway and the southeast.”

He said car sales have been particularly strong, up about 30 per cent. Finance Ireland provided €156 million in motor finance last year and has a market share of about 12 per cent.

Mr Hickey is expected to take up his new role in September. A spokesman for Bank of Ireland said Mr Hickey had made a “significant contribution to the delivery of the bank’s strategic objectives and we wish him every success in the future”.

Mr Kane said the failure to elect a new government since the February election does not appear to be impacting on investment decisions by businesses. “It’s not a consideration on the SME side but they are beginning to think about the implications of Brexit more seriously, especially those involved in manufacturing and exporting.”