Zahid Bilgrami is to step down as CEO of technology and data provider Defaqto after eight years at the helm.

Mr Bilgrami was appointed CEO of Defaqto in May 2012 having been an executive member of the board since 2010. He will leave the business the end of March.

He will be replaced by John Milliken.

Mr Milliken has led a number of fintech, enterprise software and deep-tech businesses as both CEO and COO across several industries, including banking and payments.

His most recent role was as CEO of Speechmatics, a machine learning (AI) company that provides speech recognition technology.

Other former roles include COO of mobile phone charger business Infomedia, managing director of mobile phone banking channel Monitise, and head of data charging at O2.

Defaqto is part of The SimplyBiz Group which acquired the firm in a £74.3m deal in 2019.

Neil Stevens, joint CEO of The SimplyBiz Group, said: “Defaqto is a vibrant business with a very capable management team and a great roadmap of products. John’s experience and leadership will be particularly valuable as we expand market reach and extend our value proposition to new and existing customers.”

"“On behalf of all our teams, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Zahid for his fantastic contribution, especially during the seamless integration of Defaqto into the wider group. I wish him every future success.”