Top boss at UK’s largest property fintech ousted for non-financial misconduct
A top executive at the UK’s largest property fintech has been ousted following allegations of non-financial misconduct, Morning Wire has learnt.
Hugo Davies, the former chief capital officer at Lendinvest, is understood to have been dismissed from the company after a whistleblower penned a letter to the chair of the company, along with the City watchdog, detailing the allegations.
Davies served briefly as interim chief financial officer at the Fitzrovia-based financial services firm in a caretaker role. Sources familiar with the matter said he was also viewed as a potential candidate for chief executive. Davies was used as a regular spokesman for the company, cited in media reports covering new deals and fundraising.
Following the letter, Lendinvest tapped law firm Simmons & Simmons to investigate and advise on the matter. The City stalwart was also the firm brought in to investigate allegations against disgraced financier Crispin Odey at Odey Asset Management.
Morning Wire understands Davies left the company in March without his equity in the firm.
A spokesperson for Lendinvest said: “Mr Davies was dismissed in March for non-financial conduct.”
Davies declined to comment. Simmons & Simmons declined to comment.
Following Morning Wire’s publication of this story, Lendinvest published a market update with the following statement: “LendInvest’s Chief Capital Officer was dismissed for non-financial conduct in March 2026 following an investigation led by an independent Director of the Board, and has been out of the business since the start of March.
“His responsibilities have been absorbed by our established Senior Leadership, and Capital Markets and Treasury teams, a transition made possible by the depth of capability within those functions.”
UK financial watchdog to broaden ‘conduct rules’
The financial watchdog said it would broaden the definition of its “conduct rules” earlier this year to include non-financial misconduct.
The new framework of guidance is expected to come into force in September.
Lendinvest, which trades on London’s junior stock market AIM, landed £500m in funding from JP Morgan in 2024. HSBC also provided £175m to LendInvest in 2025 as part of the latter’s new home building initiative.
The fintech’s losses dramatically narrowed to £1.2m in 2025 – a 96 per cent reduction from the £31.1m loss the year prior.
In the second half of the year, the firm also notched a pre-tax profit of £50m.
It came as new lending swelled 39 per cent to £1.2bn, driven by a bump of nearly two thirds for activity in the mortgages division. Operating expenses contracted by a fifth to just shy of £40m. This came as the firm’s total headcount tumbled by 15 per cent to 203.