Arrow Global appoints new CEO

DEBT recovery business Arrow Global has recruited former Shanks Group chief executive Tom Drury as its new CEO.

The company, which is based at Manchester’s Belvedere building, announced Mr Drury’s appointment as it revealed its results for the six months to June 30 which showed that it had purchased more than £2bn of debts within six months and asset management contracts for loans worth more than £500m.

It said the loans weere purcased from 28 creditors, bringing the total number of creditor organisations it deals with to 47.

Arrow Global purtchases debts from banks, utilities companies and other credit-issuing organisations and attempts to achieve better rates of recovery by using more accurate data. The business was part of US-based loans giant Sallie Mae until 2009, when it was subsequently bought out by Royal Bank of Scotland’s Special Opportunities Fund. It then relocated the company’s operations from London to Manchester, which is where most of its management team were based.

The firm said that it achieved rapid growth during the first half, and it now manages more than 3m customer accounts representing debts with a face value of more than £6bn, although Arrow and its competitors typically only pay a fraction of the face value of debts purchased – the industry average is between 4p and 7p in the £1.

Drury said that he was “delighted” to joing Arrow Global, having previously worked as chief executive of Shanks and managing director of outsourced call centre operator Vertex.

“I look forward to working with the rest of the team to continue building on the company’s success to date and further developing Arrow Global as the clear market leader in the debt purchase industry,” he said.

Zach Levy, founder of Arrow Global, will now become executive director of the company. He said: “Having worked with Tom previously at Vertex, I am thrilled that Arrow Global will benefit from his skills and experience.

“Tom is perfectly suited to lead Arrow Global in delivering success from its market leading position in a prospering industry.”