This week's London appointments

Lianna Brinded and Alanna Petroff, Yahoo Finance

Financial news and data firm Yahoo Finance has appointed Lianna Brinded as head of finance and Alanna Petroff as senior economics reporter.

Lianna will join the company from Quartz, where she currently works as Europe news editor, and lead on Yahoo Finance’s strategy in the UK.

Alanna will focus on driving the company’s economics coverage. She previously worked for CNN Money.

Both will be based in London.

Lianna said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Yahoo Finance where original journalism and original video take precedence.

“At a time where the UK is seeing some real challenges and changes in the economic climate, I’m excited to be leading a team that will aim to be at the forefront of everything from property and cryptocurrency, to Brexit and trade tariffs.”

Fiona Hewitt, Parrott & Coales

Law firm Parrott & Coales has appointed a new head of dispute resolution.

Fiona Hewitt’s 18-year career has seen her resolve legal disputes for companies and individuals, handling the early settlement of matters through to mediation, negotiation and representation at trial.

Her work has focused on contractual, service and property issues, as well as shareholder and partnership disputes, negligence, intellectual property, defamation, trusts and contentious probate.

She recently spent two years as head of practice area – dispute resolution at Brethertons Solicitors.

Fiona said: “I felt that Parrott & Coales was the perfect fit. It’s a well-established local law firm, recognised for a friendly and personal approach which is exactly how I like to work.

“I take pride in getting to know my clients individually and in really understanding their specific circumstances, so I can best advise with a clear strategy on how we’re going to help resolve their dispute.”

Sarah Plumridge, Parrott & Coales’ managing partner, commented: “Fiona is the perfect person to help us to grow our litigation department and continue to increase our service offerings in line with our clients’ needs.

“She has real pedigree in developing businesses and departments and an impeccable track record in successfully resolving legal disputes across a range of areas.”

Kevin Jenkins, Nuggets

Blockchain payments and identity brand Nuggets has appointed Kevin Jenkins, former MD of Visa.

Kevin will sit on the firm’s board in the role of non-executive director as it rolls the Nuggets platform out to new international markets.

Chief exec Alastair Johnson said: “Kevin is a true payments pioneer, with an amazing reputation for establishing partnerships with financial Institutions, technology partners, retailers and e-commerce providers.

“He’ll help us build the relationships we need to roll out the product as quickly as possible. We’re thrilled that, after so long working on customer payment journeys at Visa, Kevin will be helping us bring even more fundamental and exciting change to the way people manage payments and ID.”

Kevin has previously held leadership roles across Visa and Mastercard that have seen him drive digital innovations within regulated environments, manage governance changes and enhance customer payment journeys, both physical and digital.

Commenting on his appointment, Kevin said: “The current model of businesses holding personal information is broken. It needs fundamental change, study after study shows that customers are frustrated by the payments journey: the many steps they have to take, and the security fears.

“For decades, the payments industry has been trying to achieve a balance between security and convenience. What impresses me so much about Nuggets is that it manages to optimise both.”

He added: “I’m convinced that every stakeholder in the payments ecosystem, from customers to retailers, will embrace Nuggets. I’m incredibly excited to be part of a genuine revolution.”

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