Spark Finance appoints Chief Commercial Officer

Spark Finance Group has announced the appointment of Simon Carter as Chief Commercial Officer.

Carter will lead the group’s commercial function across its FCA-regulated brokerage, Spark Finance, and its technology business, Clover Technology. He joins from Investec, where he was co-head of Investec Capital Solutions, with co-head responsibility for the bank’s working capital book. He brings nearly three decades’ experience in SME and working capital finance, spanning lending, credit and brokerage to the role.

He spent 17 years at Close Brothers Invoice Finance, latterly as commercial director, leading the scaling of the firm’s Midlands operation. He went on to spend eight years building and scaling Touch Financial, the UK’s largest FCA-authorised invoice finance broker, before joining the founding team at Amicus Commercial Finance, which was acquired by Investec in 2018.

Carter has also served on the board of the NACFB and on UK Finance’s product board. In his new role, Carter will take overall responsibility for sales, partnerships, lender engagement and customer growth, working alongside Spark’s leadership to scale the business and deepen its relationships across the UK SME finance market.

Julian Dobbin, chief executive of Spark Finance, said: “Simon is one of the most respected figures in SME and working capital finance, and someone we’ve wanted in the business for some time. He combines deep credit and lending experience with a genuine understanding of the broker market – a rare and exactly relevant mix for where we’re heading. We’re delighted to have him on board.”