Australia-based P2P lender SocietyOne is entering the second quarter of 2016 with a new CEO, a new CFO, and a major new milestone under its belt.
Jason Yetton, former executive at Westpac Group, is the company’s new CEO. Yetton takes the reins from SocietyOne co-founder Matt Symons, who will stay on as Chief Strategy 
and Innovation Officer. Yetton pointed out that the company was at an important point in its growth and that he was looking forward to being a part it. “The opportunities offered by marketplace lending in Australia for consumers and investors through innovation and greater competition are significant,” Yetton said.
Symons added that Yetton’s arrival marked a “significant milestone” in SocietyOne’s development. Calling Yetton a “game-changer who is passionate about innovation and technology,” Symons praised the new CEO’s “unique combination of skills and expertise … through his time in funds management and wealth management.” Yetton spent more than six years in executive positions at Westpac and over nine years at BT Financial Group. He has degrees from UNSA Australia, Securities Institute of Australia, and Harvard Business School.
Yetton is not the only C-level arrival to SocietyOne this spring. Also joining the company in March was Anna Harper, who will serve as SocietyOne’s new Chief Financial Officer. Harper was formerly group 
financial controller for Virtus Health, among the largest assisted reproductive services providers in Australia, and her hiring was called a “coup” by the company’s new CEO. “(It) just underlines how far we have come and how we are viewed by the rest of corporate Australia as the company that is really shaking up the financial services industry,” Yetton said.
Previous to Virtus, Harper worked with Rabobank Australia, JP Morgan Chase, and the accounting firm, Crowe Horwath, where she was senior auditor. She is a graduate of University of Technology in Sydney, and of AGSM at the University of New South Wales. Speaking of her new role, Harper said that her experience working with “dynamic” companies made her excited about joining SocietyOne. “I jumped at the chance to be a part of the team shaking up the banking sector and making a real difference to the lives of our customers,” she said.
Pictured (left to right): SocietyOne co-founders Greg Symons and Matt Symons demonstrated their P2P lending platform at FinovateAsia 2012.
The big changes in the executive suites reflected big moves in the business, as SocietyOne also announced in March that its loan book has surpassed $100 million. Yetton called it a “stunning achievement by a company that didn’t exist five years ago and only started writing loans in August 2012.”
SocietyOne credited Q1 loan-growth of $30 million for helping push the company past the $100 million milestone. And the company says that since January 2013, investors have earned an effective greater-than 8.5% annualized rate of return. Yetton credited SocietyOne’s “world-class technology platform (ClearMatch), credit and risk disciplines and customer service” for his company’s ability to provide “the best outcomes for borrowers and investors.”
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Sydney, Australia, SocietyOne demonstrated its ClearMatch platform for P2P lenders at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.