Specialty non-bank finance company, Liberty Financial, announced yesterday that James Boyle, its chief operating officer, would move into the executive officer role, recently vacated by Sherman Ma, company founder and CEO.Boyle, who joined the company in 2003 from State Street Corporation, will continue to have responsibility for operations, distribution and strategy across all of Liberty's operational businesses.Ma will stay on the board as executive director of a company that has extended over A$20 billion to borrowers in Australia and New Zealand. Its businesses include residential and commercial mortgages, motor vehicle finance, personal loans and investments in Australia and New Zealand. Earlier this month Liberty announced a group profit before tax for the year ended June 30 of $74 million, an increase of 11 per cent on the previous year. Loan originations grew by 227 per cent to $2.5 billion for the year and total assets grew by 46 per cent to $5.1 billion.Last week Standard & Poor's announced an upgrade to Liberty's corporate rating to BBB, making Liberty the only Australian non-bank lender to enjoy an investment grade rating.