Vodafone group treasurer departs for Greensill

Neil Garrod, Vodafone’s group treasury director, is leaving the firm to join Greensill, the UK-based venture led by controversial former Citigroup banker Lex Greensill.

Garrod’s departure from Vodafone was leaked in April this year, but his arrival at Greensill was only revealed at the weekend. Garrod has been with Vodafone for more than a decade.

Greensill Capital is currently embroiled in a crisis at Swiss fund manager GAM, which has been in the headlines since it suspended star fund manager Tim Haywood. According to the FT, Haywood was found to have invested large sums in highly illiquid bonds linked to Greensill Capital.

The appointment is therefore a controversial one, given that Vodafone invested about €1bn (£900m) in a fund sourced by Greensill and run by GAM, but it has now completely exited its position, according to a spokesperson for the telecom company.

Neil said: “I am very excited to be joining Greensill and inside the engine room of a company that is truly disrupting financial services globally.”

News of Garrod’s expected move follows a flurry of recent personnel activity at the supply chain finance specialist. Financial News reported last week that the company had hired Standard Chartered’s former European head of global corporate coverage, Sean Hanafin, to be executive chair. Hanafin also previously worked at Citi. Meanwhile, Jason Austin, another ex-banker who was also a co-founder of Greensill, recently stepped down from his role as president and is now a senior UK adviser.

Last month, a deal securing an $800m investment from the SoftBank Vision Fund made Greensill one of Britain’s most highly valued financial technology companies and would represent SoftBank’s biggest investment in the fintech sector.