Former EFTPOS CEO to join Plenti board

Prior to joining the fintech lending group, Mr Benton spent three decades in the financial services sector, including consumer lending, product development and debt collection. 

His most recent position was with EFTPOS, where he served as chief executive and managing director of the payment service from 2018 to 2022. 

This itself was preceded by an almost-five-year tenure with Westpac, where Mr Benton served as head of consumer finance, emerging business and payments. 

From 2010 to 2013, Mr Benton was the general manager product and pricing and the head of customer and product with non-major bank Bankwest. 

Mr Benton has also previously served as the chair of comparison site InfoChoice Limited and investment company Once Private Group. 

The incoming director was also the managing director of collection services with debt collector outfit Baycorp Advantage from 2004 to 2006. 

Speaking of Plenti’s incoming addition, chairman Mary Ploughman said Mr Benton’s experience will be valuable for the group. 

“We are delighted to welcome Stephen to Plenti’s board. Stephen is an accomplished director and executive with significant expertise across many important facets of financial services,” Ms Ploughman said. 

“Stephen’s experience will be valuable as Plenti continues to execute on its strategic priorities.” 

Earlier this month, Plenti announced it had priced its asset-backed securities (ABS) transaction covering automotive receivables Plenti Auto at $437 million.

The group’s inaugural ABS transaction came less than one year earlier in August, where it issued $306.3 million of notes to investors backed by secured automotive loan receivables.

In April, the lender confirmed its automotive division experienced a 151 per cent boost in originations year-on-year, hitting $203 million in the three months to March.

The division also reported that its loan portfolio surged by 182 per cent year-on-year to hit $745 million over the same period. 

The same figures also suggested that Plenti’s loan portfolio reached $1.3 billion during the March quarter. 

Speaking of these results, Plenti chief executive Daniel Foggo commented that the group is focused on leveraging its technology to “execute our program of product innovation and efficiency initiatives, whilst continuing to profitability take market share in each of our three key lending verticals”.

Late last year, Plenti flagged its ambitions to hit a $5 billion loan book, noting that brokers will play a key role in this pursuit.

[Related: Plenti prices ABS transaction]