Lending Club Bolsters Investor Group with Two Senior Hires
Morgan Stanley Managing Director Valerie Kay Joins as Head of Institutional Group
BlackRock Managing Director Raman Suri Joins as Head of Retail Investor Group
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lending Club (NYSE:LC), the world's largest online marketplace connecting borrowers and investors, today announced two new additions to its Investor Group. Valerie Kay will join Lending Club as Senior Vice President, Head of Institutional Investors and Raman Suri will join as Senior Vice President, Head of Retail Investors. They will report to Patrick Dunne, Chief Capital Officer, who joined Lending Club in July after a 25-year career at BlackRock and other investment firms.
"A key strength of Lending Club's marketplace lies in the diversity of our capital, including the largest retail investor base of any marketplace lender and a broad institutional investor base spanning banks, dedicated funds, asset managers and pension funds. Valerie and Raman will play important roles in helping our marketplace achieve its full potential in terms of scale and resiliency," said Scott Sanborn, CEO and President of Lending Club.
Ms. Kay, a former executive at Morgan Stanley and Prudential Securities, brings more than 25 years of capital markets experience across a broad range of consumer asset classes. She will be responsible for institutional capital management on Lending Club's platform.
"Lending Club's marketplace has transformed access to consumer credit, delivering a high-quality asset with solid returns to investors, and I'm thrilled for this opportunity to join a talented team and further build the institutional investor strategy," Ms. Kay said.
Ms. Kay spent 20 years at Morgan Stanley, including 12 years as a Managing Director, where she held several leadership roles within Global Capital Markets including Deputy Head of Asset Finance, Head of Structured Asset Monetization and Head of Mortgage Finance. She was most recently part of the Institutional Securities Group where she was responsible for managing relationships with some of Morgan Stanley's most important institutional investors.
Mr. Suri has held a variety of senior roles at BlackRock iShares and its predecessor, Barclays Global Investors (BGI), including Head of RIA and Institutional Segments and Head of Product for US iShares. He brings more than 15 years of experience in investment management, product and business development to Lending Club. Mr. Suri will be responsible for driving the company's retail investor channel, focusing on self-directed retail, registered investment advisors, brokerage distribution strategies, and product development.
"Like iShares, Lending Club has created a platform that's leveling the playing field for retail investors, enabling them to access attractive, low-cost, high-performing financial products," said Mr. Suri. "I'm looking forward to working with the team to expand Lending Club's ability to help more retail investors achieve the returns that the marketplace delivers."
At BlackRock, Mr. Suri was responsible for expanding the iShares product line to over 200 products across asset classes leading to a democratizing of investment choices for retail investors. At Barclays, Mr. Suri developed a sales channel that became one of the biggest ETF users with over 100 different firms and over $75B in assets. He most recently served as Managing Director, Head of Insurance ETFs at BlackRock, overseeing the entry of iShares into the $5 trillion insurance market.
About Lending Club
Lending Club's mission is to transform the banking system to make credit more affordable and investing more rewarding. The company's technology platform enables it to deliver innovative solutions to borrowers and investors. We operate at a lower cost than traditional bank lending programs, so we're able to pass the savings on to borrowers in the form of lower rates and to investors in the form of solid returns. Lending Club is based in San Francisco, California. More information is available at https://www.lendingclub.com. Currently only residents of the following states may invest in Lending Club notes: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, or WY. All loans are made by federally regulated issuing bank partners.
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SOURCE Lending Club
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