Oodle Car Finance has appointed former Zopa and CapitalOne man Andrew Lawson as its new chief product officer on the back of the firm recently closing its £350m asset-backed securitisation (ABS).

Joining the automotive finance broker directly from a post as chief product officer at Zopa – where he was responsible for business growth across lending and investing, including the origination and performance of unsecured and secured car loans – Lawson will look to develop the business as it approaches a £1 billion lending milestone.

Commenting on the appointment of Lawson, who has also held several senior positions at Oliver Wyman, Capital One Bank and Experian, Oodle’s founder and chief executive, Jonny Clayton, said: “Andrew joins the company at a truly exciting time in our journey. His experience will enable us to continue to advance and build a world class customer proposition that support our dealer partners' response to changing retail demands and opportunities. 

“We continue to build on the success and market penetration achieved since our launch three years ago.

“We’re on our way to achieving £1bn of total lending now and our hyper-growth business continues its investment in our proprietary technology platform, to position at the forefront of driving change and our mission to make car buying and ownership simple and accessible to all.

“As a leader who brings insight, strategy and a successful track record in managing high-growth, Andrew will head up our 80-strong product and engineering teams.

“He will be instrumental in driving advancements in our product and technologies as we steer change in the UK’s largest retail market and enable our network of dealers to deliver a game-changing retail experience.”

Last month Oodle closed its first asset-backed securitisation in a £350m transaction designed to support further growth of the digital business.

The oversubscribed transaction saw demand from 14 European and international bond investors.

Oxford-based Oodle generated over £3bn in car finance applications during 2018 and, since its launch in 2016, has received more than £5.6bn in applications and funded £660m of car finance to more than 50,000 UK customers.

In the past year, applications have increased by 330%.

Commenting on his appointment to the business, Lawson said: “I’ve had some great career highlights so far – including growing Zopa from £20m lending per month to profitability and becoming the UK’s largest online open market lender, with more than £100m lending per month.

“I’m ready for a new challenge though and Oodle Car Finance is in a great position to experience real growth trajectory in their mission to make car buying a 21st century experience.

“There’s plenty of work to crack on with here as we scale up to second-gear growth.””