Bolton steps back; bank boss steps in

Squirrel has appointed former Co-operative Bank chief executive David Cunningham as its new CEO.

Squirrel founder John Bolton has decided to focus on being and adviser and doing media work, plus strategy for the company. His official role will be executive director and adviser.

Cunningham has a wealth of banking and wider sector experience to the position – which will be vital to driving the company forward on its mission of growth and innovation.

“Squirrel has become an industry leader that constantly challenges the status quo," Cunningham says. "I’m genuinely excited to be joining this amazing team.”

Bolton and Cunningham have worked together before at Westpac. Bolton says: “Dave is an exceptional CEO that we’re lucky to have nabbed. With his appointment, we’re doubling our drive and horsepower so we can continue to innovate and maintain our high growth without breaking things."

"We’ve built a very strong leadership team who know banking but also want to do it differently and better – and this is the next phase of that mission.”

Bolton said he will keep working as an adviser and stay close to customers and what is going on in the market. Currently, Squirrel writes $2 billion of home loans a year and Bolton wants to see that number more than double.

He says Squirrel is a complex business with both borrowers and investors. While it writes a significant amount of home loans it now funds under management of close to $100 million.

As the business grows and takes on more funding, it needed a full time CEO to get to the next level, he said.