The chair of consumer lender Wisr, John Nantes, is stepping down from the board to spare the company any reputational damage in relation to criminal charges brought against the former chief executive Anthony Nantes, his brother. The company announced that John Nantes will not seek re-election at the annual general meeting next month and will retire from the board after the AGM. He had taken a leave of absence to avoid any conflict of interest while the board sorted out Anthony Nantes’ termination arrangements, but now the separation will be permanent. The company’s statement said: “Mr Nantes’ decision to retire has been driven by a desire to ensure that the company and its business is not negatively impacted by perceptions related to Mr Nantes’ familial relationship with Wisr’s former CEO.” Anthony Nantes was sacked on August 16. It was later revealed that he is facing stalking charges and spent time in custody. Matthew Brown is the company’s interim chair. Chief financial officer Andrew Goodwin has taken over as chief executive. These disruptions come at a difficult time for the company, which is struggling to achieve its goal of profitability in the face of lower loan volumes, higher funding costs and weaker credit quality. In the year to June, loan origination of A$495 million was down 19 per cent on the previous year. Revenue rose but higher wages, finance expenses and credit provisions resulted in a loss of $13.1 million, compared with a loss of $19.9 million the previous year. The company’s loan balance at June 30 was $931 million. The provision for expected credit loss was $22.3 million and net loan write-offs represented 1.59 per cent of the average loan balance – up from 1.17 per cent the previous year.