LIKEZERO, the next generation contract risk management and data capture company, is delighted to announce the appointment of John Hamer who joins as Chairman.

Previously, John was CEO and then Chairman of Fidessa Group PLC, the leading global financial trading software provider which listed in 1997 and was acquired by Ion Group in 2018.

John joins LIKEZERO following the recent spin out from PwC with the backing of Souter Investment and Manfield Partners. John will work closely with CEO Michael Lines on accelerating the growth of the business which has already built a strong client list of financial institutions looking to benefit from LIKEZERO’s proprietary software and expertise in identifying contract risk and solving regulatory challenges including LIBOR transition, non-performing loans, margin reform and Brexit.

LIKEZERO now counts some of the world’s largest financial institutions among its blue-chip client base and continues to supply its software to the leading market data providers.

Commenting on the appointment, Michael Lines, CEO, said: “I’m thrilled that John has joined LIKEZERO having led Fidessa into a truly global leader within the financial trading arena. His track record makes him the ideal person to guide LIKEZERO as we look to capitalise on the significant gap in the same market, which exists in analysing unstructured content.

Since becoming an independent business we have seen strong demand for our services across our client base as we grow market share for our software, which offers a unique solution to institutions who need to understand legal and counterparty risks in an increasingly complex and unpredictable world.”

John Hamer said: "LIKEZERO's technology gives an excellent and almost immediate return on investment to our customers and I am hugely excited by the potential to take it to a broader audience. The team here are incredibly talented and I am delighted to now be working with them to grow the business further."

Alongside John, LIKEZERO has made two other appointments to round out its senior management team, with Paul Hunt joining as Chief Financial Officer and Katie Morgan as Business Development Director.

Paul brings a range of experience developing fast growing businesses in the capital markets space; most recently as CFO of Disguise, the leading global provider of live event visualisation solutions, and before that as a key member of the senior management team that led Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international B2B information and SaaS group.

Katie has significant expertise within contract analysis and digitisation and was part of the initial team who pioneered the birth of contract digitisation in financial services.