The founder and chief executive of specialist lender QuickFee, Bruce Coombes, will step down from the CEO role next month. He will be replaced by the company’s US president Eric Lookhoff, who joined the company in February.

Coombes will take up the role of managing director Australia and will remain on the board as an executive director.

The company provides a form of receivables finance to accounting and law firms, allowing them to set up monthly payment plans for their clients. Clients take out loans with terms of up to 12 months.

The local business was launched in 2009 and QuickFee US was launched in 2016. It has more than 700 clients in Australia and 469 clients in the US.

Last October, QuickFee appointed a new chief financial officer, Simon Yeandle, a chartered accountant who has previously worked as CFO at oOh!media and 3P Learning.

In July 2019, the company raised A$13 million in an IPO and was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

In the December half revenue rose 20 per cent to $4.5 million, with growth coming from US lending. Local lending fell by close to half to $13.3 million, which the company put down to the impact of government stimulus.

The company made a loss of $2.8 million, compared with a loss of $1.7 million in the previous corresponding period.