Wonga appoints co-founder Errol Damelin as chairman
Payday loan company Wonga has appointed its co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Errol Damelin as chairman of the company. Damelin has been the CEO of the company since its founding in 2006. He will be replaced by chief operating officer, Niall Wass. Jonty Hurwitz, who co-founded Wonga, announced he will retire from the company's board.
Wonga recently faced a grilling by MPs over its business practices but the company defended its record and sevices. Ahead of questioning from MPs, Mr Wass said in an interview with ITV, "I am not sitting here today saying that everything we do is perfect; what we are trying to do is use great technology to give a really fair, transparent service to customers."
Labour leader, Ed Miliband has launched a scathing attack on payday lenders, declaring that they are "responsible for a quiet crisis of thousands of families trapped in unpayable debt." The leader of the opposition, writing in the Sun newspaper on 10 November, said a Labour government would encourage the advertising watchdog to ban payday loan advertisements during children's programmes.