Ex-ECB board member Jorg Asmussen leaves Funding Circle board for advisory role

Jorg Asmussen

LONDON – German economist and politician Jörg Asmussen has moved into an advisory role at Funding Circle, leaving the London-headquartered peer-to-peer lender's board after a year and a half.

A spokesperson for Funding Circle confirmed that Asmussen, who was on the European Central Bank (ECB) executive board from 2012 to 2013, has moved into a more informal role after taking on a senior position at investment bank Lazard, which he joined in July of last year.

The spokesperson said Asmussen "still working closely with the business and meets Thorsten and the rest of the German team every couple of weeks."

Asmussen joined Funding Circle's board as a non-executive director in March last year.

Asmussen was State Secretary at the German Ministry of Finance, serving under Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble during the crunch period of 2008 to 2012.

He led German's crisis management team after the Lehmann Brothers bankruptcy and was a key negotiator in the European sovereign debt crisis.

More recently, Asmussen served as State Secretary for the German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs from 2014 to 2015. During his time at the ECB, the Financial Times dubbed him "One of the most influential members of the European Central Bank's governing council."

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