Moneyfarm, the digital wealth adviser M&G bought a minority stake in, has appointed former Virgin Money boss Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia as its chair.
Gadhia is also chair of HM Revenue & Customs, a UniCredit director and sits on the Mayor of London’s business advisory board.
She previously founded money management app Snoop after 11 years at Virgin Money where she led the lender to IPO.
Gadhia said she wanted to work with Moneyfarm's board to make investing for the future simple and accessible.
"Moneyfarm has a clear vision and strategy to deliver this and reminds me very much of my early days at Virgin Money," said Gadhia.
"It has the same energy, drive and innovative culture, with a diverse client base and business that encourages everyone to take control of their financial future."
At the end of last year, Moneyfarm bought UK digital pension adviser and consolidator Profile Pensions.
The deal marked the fintech's expansion into the UK pensions market, and followed backing from M&G which will see Moneyfarm help it roll out a direct-to-consumer investment platform.
Moneyfarm’s current shareholders include M&G, Poste Italiane S.p.A, Cabot Square Capital, United Ventures, Fondazione di Sardegna, and Smedvig Capital.
Co-founder and chief executive officer at Moneyfarm, Giovanni Daprà, said when the board was looking for a new chair, it wanted to appoint someone with "significant expertise" in the financial services sector, with a proven track record of corporate governance and stakeholder engagement in a highly regulated industry.
"Jayne-Anne is a perfect fit for this and for Moneyfarm. The board and the whole Moneyfarm team are really looking forward to working with her in the coming years."
Daprà said back in December that over the past year Moneyfarm has been working hard to improve its service and expects to expand its offering in 2023.
Since it launched in 2012, Moneyfarm has raised over £130mn in investments.
When it landed backing from M&G, Moneyfarm had some 80,000 customers, having bought Canadian robo-adviser Wealthsimple’s 16,000 UK customers back in 2021.
In total, the fintech manages over £2.5bn in assets under management.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
