BMO, Cox & BFS Capital join Canadian Lenders Association Board

Feb 11th, 2019, Toronto, Canada – The Canadian Lenders Association (CLA) today announced that Lyla Kanji, Head Loan Syndication & Specialty Finance, Canadian Commercial Banking at BMO Financial Group, Jerome Dwight, EVP of Cox Automotive Canada (Dealertrack) and Mark Ruddock, CEO of BFS Capital have joined as members of the association’s board.

“We are very excited to expand the CLA leadership,” said Gary Schwartz, President of the Association. “2020 will be another year of growth for the industry. BMO Financial Group, BFS Capital and COX Automotive bring diverse skills to the board and help foster innovative lending solutioning and ethical and transparent lending practices that service business and consumer borrowers nationally.”

Ms Kanji, Head Loan Syndication & Specialty Finance at BMO said, “I’m excited to join the CLA board and bring my expertise in specialty finance to help provide guidance to member companies. I look forward to helping the CLA support the growth of companies that are in the business of lending or providing other means of credit and finding ways to spark innovation in the sector.”

Mark Ruddock, CEO, BFS Capital said, “I’m proud to join the CLA board and help advocate for innovative and responsible funding solutions for small businesses. After having focused for the past few years on financial technology innovation abroad, it’s thrilling to be back in Canada, and to be supporting Canadian businesses with access to the capital they need to power growth.”

About BMO Financial Group

Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider – the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $839 billion as of July 31, 2019, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

About Cox Automotive Canada

Cox Automotive is transforming the way the world buys, sells, and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, software, financial, wholesale and e-commerce solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. In Canada, the Cox Automotive family includes Dealer.com®Dealertrack®Kelley Blue Book®HomeNet®Manheim®NextGear Capital®Ready Logistics®RMS Automotive®vAuto®VinSolutions® and Xtime®, along with a host of other brands in other countries. The global company has 34,000 team members in more than 220 locations and is a partner to more than 50,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of 120-year-old Cox Enterprises, Inc., and serving the automotive industry since 1926, which has revenues exceeding $20 billion and approximately 55,000 employees. Cox Enterprises’ other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive Canada, visit coxautoinc.ca.

About BFS Capital

BFS Capital champions the long-term growth and prosperity of small businesses by providing timely, flexible financing solutions. BFS Capital’s leading small business financing platform leverages customized underwriting and proprietary algorithms to fund businesses in the United States, Canada, and through its United Kingdom subsidiary, Boost Capital. Since 2002, BFS Capital has provided over $2.3 billion in total financing to over 24,000 small businesses across more than 400 industries. Headquartered in South Florida with offices in New York, California, the United Kingdom and Canada, BFS Capital is an accredited BBB company with an A+ rating.

About the Canadian Lenders Association

The CLA supports the growth of companies that are in the business of lending, or providing other means of credit, to small business and individuals using innovative means to exchange ideas and explore ways of improving the sector; encourage principled and professional practices; educate the public at large about innovative lending; encourage individual potential borrowers to be informed about the appropriateness of innovative lending to the borrowers’ circumstances; and to advocate on behalf of, and represent the interests of, innovative lenders.

Join us at our bi-monthly leadership events as well as our annual Canadian Lenders Summit this coming November and apply for the Canadian Innovative Lenders Award for individuals and corporations that reflect the CLA’s core values and notably advance the industry for all Canadians.

 

To learn more about the CLA, please visit its websites at: www.canadianlenders.org and at www.canadianlenderssummit.com.

 

For more information please contact:

 

Tal Schwartz
Head of Media & Strategy
Canadian Lenders Association
tal@canadianlenders.org
+1 (514) 244-2008