Ziglu hires Monzo’s James Sullivan as chief legal officer

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
5th November 2020

Ziglu, a start-up founded by Starling Bank’s former chief technology officer, Mark Hipperson, has appointed Monzo’s former legal head as its chief legal officer (CLO).

James Sullivan worked as Monzo’s head of legal for one year and nine months. Prior to Monzo, Sullivan led the legal and compliance team at Funderbeam – a funding and trading platform for private companies.

“[Ziglu] is knocking it out of the park with its first crowdfunding on Seedrs,” says Sullivan

He’s also spent time at Australia-based global investment manager Cromwell Property Group – which bought his previous employer, Valad Europe, in 2015.

Ziglu became a licensed electronic money institution (EMI) authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) back in August.

Ziglu allows people to instantly send or receive “any” physical or digital currency to or from a contact within the Ziglu community

Ziglu’s attractive growth

“It was always going to take an exceptionally exciting opportunity to move on from Monzo,” says Sullivan on the appointment.

Sullivan cites Ziglu’s growth in the last few months as a major reason for his jumping ship.

Not only has the start-up landed its licence, it also launched peer-to-peer (P2P) payments for crypto and fiat currencies in September.

In June, it raised £5.25 million in seed funding. Currently, the start-up is crowdfunding on Seedrs. It has £3.1 million from 1,234 investors so far.

“[Ziglu] is knocking it out of the park with its first crowdfunding on Seedrs,” says Sullivan. “It’s been an impressive journey in just a few months.”

Both Sullivan and Ziglu CEO Hipperson cite the fintech’s imminent international growth plans as a big part of the new legal appointment.

This could point to the start-up’s plans to gather more licences abroad.

Idea behind Ziglu

Launched as recently as June, Ziglu has called itself a cryptocurrency-focused bank.

It insures digital assets against cyberattacks up to the value of £50,000, whilst fiat currencies are safeguarded in a segregated account.

Although Ziglu does have an EMI licence, crypto assets are not regulated in the same way physical assets are.

Based on the cloud, Ziglu claims its “modern day account” is ready for “hyper-scale growth”.

“Paying people should be instant, free and easy regardless of their location or the currency, whether that is splitting the cost of your Airbnb or sending a Bitcoin birthday present,” says Hipperson.

Hipperson founded Ziglu back in September 2018. His aim from the beginning was to break down currency barriers.

The start-up promises competitive rates, real-time balances and no hidden fees when users buy or sell crypto. A 1.25% commission applies on all trades. Users also have access to in-app customer support.