Travelex owner Finablr PLC (LON:FIN) has appointed Bhairav Trivedi as its new chief executive as its chief financial officer Rahul Pai has resigned, following the resignation of its auditor and two other directors in recent days.
Pai has agreed to support Trivedi until a successor is identified.
Trivedi has spent the past recent years closely connected to UAE-based payment processor Network International, including four and a half years as its CEO and more recently as a board adviser.
Finablr co-chairman Michael Tomalin said the new CEO, “is an experienced business professional with over 25 years senior management experience in strategy, sales, marketing, business development and operations in the financial services sector, with deep domain expertise in emerging technologies and payments with a special focus on the consumer payment and remittance industry”.
Auditor Ernst & Young resigned on Monday over concerns about the company’s connections with NMC Health, the composition of the board, corporate governance and the discovery of around US$100mln (£81mln) in previously unknown cheques that may have been used as “security for financing arrangements for the benefit of third parties”.
Finablr was founded and remains controlled by a company owned by the family of BR Shetty, who also founded private hospital operator NMC Health PLC (LON:NMC), which is currently facing an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after an independent review uncovered the issuing of similar cheques, as well as “potential discrepancies and inconsistencies” in bank statements.
Finablr’s shares have been suspended by the FCA after the discovery of the cheques.