UK challenger Zopa appoints new COO and CTO
UK digital bank Zopa has appointed Kate Erb as chief operating officer (COO) and Peter Donlon as chief technology officer (CTO), subject to regulatory approval.
Kate Erb, COO of Zopa
In her new role as COO, Erb will lead Zopa’s “critical” functions including operations, customer service, collections and recoveries. She brings more than 20 years of financial services experience to her new role, having previously worked at Leeds Building Society as director of operations and infrastructure.
Previously, Erb held the COO post at start-up banks Aspinall Financial Services and Vive, and has also held senior roles at Capital One Bank (Europe), where she worked for over 11 years.
As CTO, Donlon will oversee Zopa’s 220-strong engineering team with a view to expand its product and technology infrastructure and use of AI and machine learning.
Peter Donlon, CTO of Zopa
Donlon joins Zopa from e-commerce and tech platform Moonpig, where he served as chief product and technology officer for over five years. There, Donlon scaled Moonpig’s tech function from 30 to 200 engineers and led its
£1.2 billion London Stock Exchange listing. Prior to that, he served as head of IT development for Sainsbury’s, overseeing the supermarket giant’s technology capabilities across 1400 shops and 190,000 employees.
Zopa says the new hires will “support the bank’s continued growth, driving further efficiencies and automation while making sure it scales sustainably, on strong foundations, and in a resilient way”.
In February, Zopa raised £75 million in a new funding round to fuel growth. To date, the challenger claims to have £3.5 billion in deposits, over £2 billion of loans on its balance sheet, and issued over 400,000 credit cards.
