Lending Club lands former BlackRock boss as chief capital officer

In a bid to shore up confidence in the post-Laplanche era Lending Club’s new CEO Scott Sanborn has hired a former leader of BlackRock’s passive funds business.

US marketplace lending platform Lending Club has hired ex-BlackRock executive Patrick Dunne as chief capital officer.

Dunne will be responsible for managing Lending Club's Investor Group which spans individual investors, strategic partnerships with retail distribution partners, banks and other institutional investors including asset managers, pensions, foundations and endowments.

Dunne has 25 years of investment experience having held a variety of senior investment roles at BlackRock, iShares – the asset manager’s passive funds business – as well as at Barclays Global Investors prior to its acquisition by Blackrock.

Most recently his roles included head of BlackRock's San Francisco office and head of iShares Global Markets and Investments where he led the iShares Capital Markets, investment research and product management teams which totalled over $1trn of assets under management. Prior to that he was global chief operating officer for iShares.

The job of chief capital officer at Lending Club was formerly held by Jeff Borgan, who initially joined Lending Club to help with their December 2014 initial public offering. Borgan went on to lead sales of loans to large institutional clients until he resigned following the shock departure of ex CEO Renaud Laplanche in May.

An internal investigation revealed Laplanche had falsified loan dates being prepped for a sale to investment bank Jefferies and had not disclosed a personal holding in a fund looking to invest in Lending Club loans.

The news prompted a selloff in Lending Club’s stock although today’s announcement has added a boost to its battered share price of 2.34 per cent.

Performance of Lending Club’s share price over 3 months

Source: Google

Scott Sanborn, president and chief executive officer of Lending Club said: "Patrick's wealth of experience and diverse background across capital markets, strategy, portfolio management, product development and client service will help us drive the next phase of Lending Club's growth. Lending Club's success in democratizing access to consumer credit is just the beginning, and Patrick will play a key role in reaffirming our continued commitment to our investors."

Dunne said: "Over the last nine years, Lending Club has transformed access to consumer credit for all investors while delivering responsible credit to consumers. I see this as a tremendous opportunity to join an innovative company with a strong foundation and I look forward to being part of its continued success".