Updated: FCA Bank appoints James Birch to lead Leasys in the UK

FCA Bank has announced that James Birch has been appointed country manager for Leasys in the UK, a subsidiary of the group and a Stellantis brand.

Birch replaces Sebastiano Fedrigo, who joined from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles UK in 2018. He has been appointed to a business development role for Free2Move Lease at the HQ in Paris.

Birch's appointment was confirmed as part of several senior management changes at Leasys, with Rolando D'Arco taking over as CEO of Leasys Spa as of December 1.

D'Arco has an in-depth knowledge of the consumer credit, rental and mobility sector in the automotive industry, thanks to the experience gained in the FCA Bank Group with positions of increasing responsibility in Italy, abroad and in Leasys.

Between 2015 and 2020 he was country manager and CEO of FCA Capital France in France and, since July 2020, he has been head of European markets and business development for FCA Bank, a role he will continue to hold on an interim basis.

He will report directly to Giacomo Carelli, CEO of FCA Bank Group and chairman of Leasys.

Jean-Mathieu Stevens has also been appointed country manager for Leasys in France. Both Stevens and Birch will report to Pietro Nardi, head of European markets and sales for Leasys Spa.

Birch moves up to country manager in the UK for Leasys from national sales manager, which he has held since 2019.

He was previously commercial marketing and PR director for Free2Move Lease, launching the new company brand to the market, and was national sales manager and head of Citroen contract motoring at Groupe PSA.

He said: “This is an exciting time to be taking the helm at Leasys UK. The past five years have laid a strong foundation for the business with the introduction of a series of innovative products, including most recently Leasys Miles and Clickar, and with the creation of Stellantis we are even more confident of what the future holds.”     

Taking over the reins as national sales manager is David Robertson who will lead the contract hire sales teams in Leasys UK.

Leasys moved up two places in this year’s FN50 survey, from 16th to 14th, growing its risk fleet of cars and vans from 16,461 to 18,361 units.