Change at the top in store for IPF

International Personal Finance (IPF), the door-step lender which issued a profits warning in December after getting caught on the hop by exchange rate movements, is to get a new chief executive.

The current Chief Executive Officer, John Harnett, is to leave the company at the beginning of April to pursue personal interests, and will be replaced by Gerard Ryan, who has joined the board as Chief Executive Officer (Designate) with immediate effect. Ryan will also immediately join the group's Executive Committee.

Ryan has more than 20 years experience in the financial services sector and latterly spent four years with Citigroup where he was Chief Executive Officer for Citi's consumer finance businesses in the Western Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

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"His multi-country experience in consumer financial services makes him ideally suited to become John Harnett's successor and will provide the company with excellent continuity of leadership," assured Christopher Rodrigues, Chairman of the company.

"We are most grateful to John for his work establishing IPF as an independent listed public company and significantly increasing the group's profits through the turbulent years of the financial crisis. This contribution is further evidenced by our 2011 performance following the key December trading period in which sales were up by 6.5% and collections were strong," Rodrigues added.

IPF's shares have more than halved over the last 52 weeks.

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