Mark Williams appointed as Quindell's new group finance director

MARK WILLIAMS has been appointed as group finance director at Quindell.

The chartered accountant, who has been working as consultant to the troubled insurance claims processor’s board since January this year, will formally take up the role once the proposed sale of its professional services division to Slater and Gordon has been completed.

Laurence Moorse, the outgoing group FD will formally step down from the board on completion of the disposal, but will “remain available to the board and the finance team to provide an orderly handover”.

Richard Rose, Quindell non-executive chairman designate, said: “Mark has been working with the group for a number of months and has been assisting the board on a number of work streams. This experience will help him hit the ground running and we are delighted to welcome Mark to this new phase in the company’s history.”

The company has started its search for the group chief executive officer role, left vacant on completion because Robert Fielding is set to transfer to Slater and Gordon.

In January 2015, Jim Sutcliffe resigned as chair of the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) codes and standards committee – just three days after taking up the role of Quindell’s deputy chairman and taking 10.9m share options.

Such a situation was deemed untenable as it appeared to conflict with the FRC’s corporate governance code, which recommends non-executive directors are prevented from takings options in a company as part of their remuneration packages.

In November, the AIM-listed company told shareholders this morning that finance director Laurence Moorse would be leaving the board, and will have gone within a year, while chairman Rob Terry and non-executive director Steve Scott would exit the firm with immediate effect.

The departures came within just 24 hours after joint broker Canaccord Genuity ended its relationship with the business.

All three departing executives were involved in a controversial share transfer agreement with Equities First Holdings. They had received £8.8m from the provider, in return for millions of Quindell shares.