Ex-Klarna UK CEO Alex Marsh Named Chair of Salad Money

British financial institution Salad Money has named Klarna’s former U.K. CEO to chair its board.

Alex Marsh, whose appointment was announced Wednesday (Dec. 18) in a news release provided to PYMNTS, succeeds Sir Tim Melville-Ross, who has held the chair position since Salad launched in 2019.

“Alex brings over 20 years of leadership experience in financial and professional services, with a proven track record of harnessing technology to drive growth in the fintech and consumer lending sectors,” the release said.

The appointment of Marsh — who has served as a non-executive board director since last year — comes as Salad continues to develop its lending platform. The company is now the U.K.’s largest community development finance institution (CDFI) and the first to be registered as an account information service provider with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Since its launch, the company says it has lent more than 130 million pounds ($163 million) to 90,000-plus customers, earning upwards of 9,600 five-star Trustpilot reviews.

“As pioneers in using open banking data to power lending decisions, it has set a new standard for fairness and transparency in credit, while also equipping consumers with tools to strengthen their financial resilience,” the release said.

The announcement comes in the closing weeks of a year that saw open banking reach a milestone in the U.K., marking 10 million active users in July, a number that equals 15% of Great Britain’s total population.

“It’s a very good number,” Marion King, chairperson and trustee of the U.K.’s Open Banking Ltd regulatory and advocacy group, told PYMNTS.

“We’re seeing really strong double-digit growth. And I think this is just the beginning, because you need to remember that this is only measured from the nine banks that were involved in the Competition and Market Authority’s initial open banking effort — so it could actually be higher,” King added. “So double-digit growth month on month is very positive, and I think it shows pent-up demand for secure data exchange as we move forward with all of this.”

In that interview, King also mentioned Salad Money’s role in helping bring open banking to the not-for-profit sector, using the concept to provide secure loans to those traditionally underserved by the regular banking system.

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