Payday Loan Rules Steer Enova To SMBs

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Financial services company Enova has a new chief financial officer, and he is reportedly looking to take the company in a new direction.

Stephen Cunningham was announced as Enova International’s new finance chief, reports this week said. The financial technology and data analytics firm has traditionally focused on the consumer finance space in its lending operations.

But reports by Equities.com said Cunningham will look to broaden Enova’s reach to small business borrowers, a response to tightening payday loan regulations that could make consumer lending more difficult.

According to reports, decreasing numbers in the traditional workforce and an underserved small business segment struggling to get loans from banks add to a market climate ripe for Enova to expand its SMB lending operations.

Cunningham was already at Enova serving as executive vice president and chief risk officer after joining the company earlier this year. Prior, he was at Discover as corporate treasurer and senior vice president. He has also held senior-level positions at Harley-Davidson and Capital One, reports added.

“The opportunity to invest in burgeoning small business could strengthen their portfolio,” the outlet said. “Furthermore, Enova knows that the small business market is a blind spot for big banks because the numbers are too small.”

A trio of Enova executives recently jointed PYMNTS in a digital discussion earlier this month about real-time data analytics and its role in improving the customer experience. Data is key to improving that experience, the company noted, but there are several hurdles in place within the enterprise that make it difficult for companies to obtain real-time analytics capabilities, including a lack of effective staff capable of handling data in real time and a lack of technical platforms to do the same.