Orchard Funding Group PLC Application for Bank Licence & New Appointments (2072U)

TIDMORCH

RNS Number : 2072U

Orchard Funding Group PLC

11 July 2018

Orchard Funding Group PLC

("Orchard Funding Group" or the "Company")

Application for Bank Licence and New Appointments

and Notice of Trading Update

Orchard Funding Group PLC, the finance company which specialises in insurance premium finance and the professions funding market, is pleased to announce that it has submitted an application for a bank licence to the Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority (the "Application").

The Company also announces the appointment of Mr Rajiv Agarwal as Director of Legal and Compliance as well as the appointment of Mr Harsukh Soni, who will be appointed as Chief Financial Officer upon the Application being approved and subject to receiving regulatory approval .

The Application

The Application has been made to obtain a bank licence for Orchard Funding Group to ensure that the Company is no longer wholly reliant on 3(rd) party banks for its funding requirements, to reduce the Company's cost of funds, as well as enabling the Company to increase its lending in its target markets.

The Company anticipates receiving the bank licence at the end of 2018, following which there will be a period of mobilisation.

The Appointments

Mr Soni has over 28 years' of experience in the financial services sector. Mr Soni spent over 7 years as Finance Manager of Sun Bank and nearly 20 years' in senior financial positions at Santander. Mr Soni has a great deal of experience and expertise in the fulfilment of the financial and regulatory obligations of banking institutions. A further announcement will be made in respect of his appointment in due course.

Mr Agarwal has over 40 years' experience in the financial services sector. Mr Agarwal was Head of Compliance and MLRO at State Bank of India in London and Head of Compliance and MLRO at Matlock Bank. Mr Agarwal has a great deal of experience and expertise in the fulfilment of the compliance obligations of banking institutions.

Notice of Trading Update

The Company expects to update the market in respect of the 12 months ending 31 July 2018 during August 2018.

Ravi Takhar, Chief Executive Officer of Orchard Funding Group, commented:

"We are pleased to announce the submission of our Application for a bank licence for Orchard. We also welcome Harsukh and Rajiv to the Company. With their combined banking, financial and regulatory expertise and our existing board members we will have an enhanced team to manage our future business requirements. We look forward to providing a further update to the market during August."

For further information:

Orchard Funding Group PLC [phone]

Ravi Takhar, Chief Executive Officer

finnCap Limited (Nomad and Broker) [phone]

Jonny Franklin-Adams, Emily Watts (Corporate Finance)

Tim Redfern, Richard Chambers (ECM)

Jeremy Grime (Research Director)

For Investor Relations please go to: www.orchardfundinggroupplc.com

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July 11, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)