Open banking provider DirectID has announced the appointment of Chris Mills as Chief Executive Officer. Chris will succeed James Varga, who has served as CEO since founding the company in 2011.

In a blog posted on the DirectID, the company said that James Varga will be ‘stepping back from the CEO role to focus fully on his responsibilities as Founder. In this capacity, he will continue to actively engage with the market, evangelise the brand, support strategy development, provide insights into industry trends, and facilitate funding activities.’

The blog went on to say that under James Varga’s leadership, DirectID strove to become an instrumental force in enabling financial inclusion through credit and risk scoring. The company helped establish open banking standards in the UK and has assisted over 170 organisations with open banking data and insights.

With the company poised for its next stage of growth, James determined it was the right time to transition management oversight to a new CEO.

James Varga, Founder, said: “This decision marks a new chapter for DirectID at a time when the need for financial inclusion for all has never been greater.

“I am fully committed to supporting Chris and the entire leadership team during this transition and beyond. With Chris at the helm as CEO, I am confident that DirectID will continue to flourish and uphold our vision of enabling financial access for all.”

Chris Mills brings a wealth of relevant experience guiding high-growth startups and a deep understanding of DirectID’s mission and market landscape. Chris has more than 15 years leadership experience in financial services, latterly as CEO of the UK’s largest independent mortgage broker, L&C Mortgages.

He has lead high-growth businesses from startups, developing successful international expansion strategies through the scale-up process. His focus will be on shaping and delivering the growth strategy to scale DirectID and expand the business into new international geos and markets.

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Chris Mills, CEO, said: “I am honoured to lead DirectID and its remarkably talented team as we enter this exciting new phase of growth and opportunity. I look forward to building on the strong foundation that James established as we further our mission of financial inclusion and continue to pioneer the use of open banking data in credit and risk sectors.

“My own experiences have highlighted the opportunity for lenders to make better, easier and more accurate decisions through open banking data.”