Listed financial services firm to the legal sector, Burford Capital, today told the market it has put forward Christopher Arthur Halmy as a new independent non-executive director.

Mr Halmy's candidacy will be put before shareholders for their approval at Burford's forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Mr Halmy is the former chief financial officer of Ally Financial (formerly General Motors Acceptance Corporation, or GMAC), a $180 billion asset New York Stock Exchange-listed US financial institution whose multinational IPO he led and whose $25 billion investment portfolio he oversaw.

Before Ally, Mr Halmy was with JPMorgan, Bank of America and MBNA; he began his career as an auditor at Deloitte. Mr Halmy brings US public markets and US GAAP experience to Burford's board, where he will serve on the audit committee.

Mr Halmy is the non-executive chairman and audit committee chair of Mercury Financial, the largest non-bank credit card company in the US, and is a non-executive director of Mosaic Sustainable Finance Corp., a solar energy company.

Upon Mr Halmy's election, Burford will have delivered an independent board under the UK Code one full year ahead of plan. The firm intends to appoint one more director in due course. Of the four incumbent directors in place prior to 2020, two have now retired.