LONDON (Alliance News) - Brian Cole, the former chief executive of US-based Capital One Financial Corp?s UK credit cards business, is the new chief executive officer of Barclaycard UK, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Barclays didn't respond to requests for comment Monday morning.
Barclaycard is the number one card issuer in Britain with close to 11 million UK card customers, according to the group's annual report for 2015. Amer Sajed is the chief executive officer of Barclaycard. The US side of the business is led by Curt Hess.
Jes Staley, the new chief executive of Barclays PLC, has been restructuring the group since taking on the job in December, creating two sibling divisions. The group's UK consumer credit card business will form part of its ring-fenced bank, which also will house its retail banking operations in the country. The group's Barclaycard operations in Europe and the US fall under what will become Barclays' non-ring-fenced bank.
Cole began his career at First Union Financial Corp in the US, before leaving for Capital One Financial, working in various roles from 1997. He went on to become the chief financial officer of the lender's UK arm in 2005, and was promoted to the position of chief executive in 2009.
In 2013, Cole's final year in charge, Capital One (Europe) PLC recorded a net profit of GBP107.0 million on revenue of GBP526.0 million, according to its filings with Companies House. In 2009, his first as chief executive, Capital One (Europe) made a loss of GBP14.6 million on total operating income of GBP533.5 million, hit by provisions for bad and doubtful debts of GBP321.1 million.
After leaving Capital One in July 2013, Cole went on to become the chief executive of Inspired Capital PLC, then a London-listed lender to smaller businesses in the UK, the following May. By April 30, 2015, the size of Inspired?s loan book had grown to GBP71.9 million, up 53% year on year.
In May 2015, Cole and Matt Cooper, the chairman of Inspired and the co-founder of Capital One, resigned from their posts. Their resignations came one month before Joe Lewis, the billionaire currency speculator and owner of Tottenham Hotspur football club, made a takeover offer for Inspired.
Through Bentley Park (UK) Ltd, an investment vehicle, Lewis acquired Inspired for GBP47.1 million in September 2015 and took the company private.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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Barclays (BARC)