Laplanche’s new fintech lender poaches Western Union executive

Upgrade bolsters executive team with new general counsel.

Upgrade bolsters executive team with new general counsel.  

Renaud Laplanche’s new platform Upgrade has poached Western Union executive John Dye, who has been appointed as Upgrade’s general counsel.

Prior to joining the company, Dye served as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of The Western Union Company, and was also chairman of the Board of Directors of the Western Union Foundation. Western Union is one of the world's best-known money transfer companies. 

Dye joined Western Union in 2011, prior to which he had held a number of senior roles at Freddie Mac, including a short stint as senior vice president, interim general counsel and corporate secretary. He has also worked at Citigroup Inc.

“John is a great addition to the team,” said Laplanche (pictured), co-founder and CEO of Upgrade. “He offers a unique combination of financial services and regulatory experience with a desire to innovate and build better credit products that will change the lives of millions.”

Upgrade has also hired Louis Shansky, formerly a partner on the securitisation team at law firm Mayer Brown, as its deputy general counsel.

Upgrade officially went live in April of this year, approximately a year after Laplanche’s much-covered departure from Lending Club. The new platform seeks to combine an online consumer lending proposition with a range of credit monitoring and education tools. In tandem to its launch, Upgrade announced the completion of a $60m Series A funding round, perhaps the largest Series A in the short history of fintech.