Octopus-owned white label platform Seccl has appointed Jonathan Dees as its new UK CEO, subject to regulatory approval.

He will replace David Ferguson who has been promoted to be executive chairman to focus on developing Seccl’s future vision, strategy and growth.

Mr Dees has been acting as interim MD at Seccl since June, supporting the business in its day-to-day management. He previously worked on secondment for Seccl for several months in 2024, supporting on the growth of its operations function.

He joins from Octopus Investments, where he has acted as COO for the last six years. Before that, he held a series of senior operating roles at technology companies – including COO for Zoopla’s software business and MD for TripAdvisor’s vacation rentals platform business.

Mr Ferguson said: "After an extensive search for our next UK CEO, which brought a large volume of exceptional external candidates, we decided the right person for the role was much closer to home. The truth is that, throughout his time with us, Jonathan has proven himself to be the standout candidate to take us forward.”

Mr Ferguson described Mr Dees as “an outstanding leader, a wonderful human and someone who is 100% aligned with our values.”

Mr Dees, said: “With some significant recent milestones and momentum building day by day, the business is truly starting to accelerate. I look forward to leading Seccl’s team to safely scale new heights – freeing up Dave to unlock the enormous opportunities that lie ahead.”

Seccl looks after £3bn-worth of portfolios of more than 300,000 investors, with nearly 60,000 new investors onboarded since January. It said it expects to triple assets under administration over the coming year. The company said it processed 2m transactions in June.

Seccl is part of Octopus, the £12.5bn group that also owns companies like Octopus Energy, Octopus Investments and Octopus Money.  It was founded in a garden shed by Dave Harvey and Hugo Thorman after the pair left platform Ascentric, later sold to M&G which dropped the Ascentric brand in 2021.

The two exited the business in February 2024 as Octopus expanded its stake in Seccl.