Monzo’s chief risk officer leaves after just 14 months

Lisa Nowell has taken the CRO role at upstart SME lender Ashman Finance.

Little over a year after she joined Monzo as its first chief risk officer, Lisa Nowell has left for a new role at upstart SME lender Ashman Finance, as first reported by Sifted.

Nowell, formerly ClearBank's chief risk and compliance officer, was in-post at Monzo for just 14 months according to her LinkedIn.

She has been replaced at the challenger bank by Iain Laing, subject to regulatory approval. Laing was formerly the chief risk officer at TSB Bank and before that Nationwide Building Society.

Ashman Finance, where Nowell has just started, describes itself as “an ambitious new entrant into the SME Lending and Consumer Deposit Markets”. 

Ashman is aiming to launch in 2021 and is currently in the process of applying for a UK banking licence.

“We’re extremely grateful to Lisa who’s been an integral part of Monzo and helped us build a world-class risk and compliance team. She continued to lead our risk and compliance function and support our executive team to hire a successor,” Monzo’s CEO TS Anil told Sifted on Nowell’s departure.

“Iain has over 20 years’ experience managing risk at some of the UK’s most established retail banks and lenders, and today we’re fortunate to welcome him as our CRO (subject to regulatory approval). The range of his experience and depth of his expertise will be crucial as we continue to build out our business.”

Nowell is just the latest exec to depart after what has been a year of high turnover for Monzo, earlier this year founding CEO Tom Blomfield, CTO Meri Williams and VP of marketing Tristan Thomas were among those who announced their departure.