N Brown boosts financial services with CEO appointment

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Dec 10, 2019

Simply Be owner N Brown is strengthening its financial services division to meet growing consumer demand as more and more rivals join the ‘buy now, pay later’ revolution.

The Manchester-based fashion group has hired a finance expert, Daniel Joy, to lead this division as financial services CEO. Subject to regulatory approval, he will start on Monday 6 January 2020.

Joy has significant experience in the sector, and a track record of delivering impactful change within businesses whilst developing effective customer offers, N Brown said.

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He started his career at Zurich Financial Services as a graduate in marketing and moved to credit card provider Capital One in 2000. During the past 11 years he worked at Ikano Bank AB, both as UK country manager and most recently as chief commercial officer. 

N Brown CEO Steve Johnson said: “I am delighted to be welcoming Dan to N Brown as we further improve and develop our financial services offering. He brings a wealth of relevant experience and his new perspective will be invaluable as we continue with our strategy to deliver sustainable, digital, profitable growth.” 

The financial services arm delivered slightly more than a third of group revenues in the year ended 2 March 2019. N Brown offers customers the option to spread the cost of shopping, something that is becoming more mainstream due to the rise of online payments providers like Klarna and Clearpay.

Klarna, which powers the likes of H&M, River Island and Boohoo, is being used by over 55,000 new consumers every week.

But the wider availability of credit schemes across high-street stores has been criticised for pushing customers into debt, with campaigners calling for tighter control on such finance deals.

Incoming N Brown financial services CEO Dan Joy said this side of the business has “huge potential”, particularly as the retailer moves to utilise analytic tools to provide a more tailored offer for customers.