UK FinTech firm Curve has appointed Paul Harrald, a founding member of SAV Credit, now New Day, to lead the company’s new Curve Credit Business.
Harrald joins from Chinese firm CreditEase, where he ran UK and European private equity investments.
He takes up his new role as part of a career which has included roles as CIO and director of analytics at SAV Credit, now rebranded to New Day, occupying a seat on RBS retail banking boards as well as working as a credit and risk advisor at Google.
He was also one of the youngest academics to achieve tenure at Manchester University and has been a visiting Professor in Computer Science at UCL.
The new role at Curve will see him set up and lead Curve’s credit business.
Curve Credit will allow Curve customers to pay off their credit card debt and to split transactions into instalments, and is designed as an alternative to revolving credit.
“Paul’s credit industry expertise is second to none,” said Shachar Bialick, Founder and CEO of Curve.
“He has a remarkable track record for building and growing hugely successful credit products and it is a massive coup for Curve to have secured such a talent and be able to draw on his expertise as we look to enter the highly competitive credit market later this year” he added.
Harrald said he believed Curve could rival Klarna, the Swedish consumer credit platform currently valued at $5.5bn.
“It’s my belief that, in time, Curve can rival Klarna, a company I admire greatly,” he said.
“The launch of Curve Credit in 2020 will provide its customers with phenomenal control of their finances and the ultimate financial experience” he added.
Harrald is the second senior appointment at Curve this quarter following the announcement of Nathalie Oestmann, former head of Samsung Pay, as Curve’s COO.
In July Curve closed its series B funding round, valuing the business at a quarter of a billion dollars. The company has also announced it plans European and US expansion in 2020.