The former head of equities for Americas at BNP Paribas now running rent-to-own property firm

The former head of equities for the Americas at BNP Paribas, who left the bank in July after more then 25 years in the financial sector, has launched a company that offers home loans to people with poor credit records in the U.S.

Chris Innes, who spent more than seven years at BNP Paribas in New York, has launched HALO (Home Access Lease Opportunity), a new firm that allows people with a history of poor credit – such as bankruptcy or foreclosure – to rent, and eventually buy, a house.

The idea is that an individual chooses a house, HALO buys it on their behalf (asking for a Purchase Option of $3.5k on each $100k of home value in case the buyer doesn’t end up purchasing the property) and then leases it back to them for 6-18 months until their credit rating improves.

This is a marked change for Innes who has worked in equities sales and trading roles in both large investment banks and buy-side firms over the course of a 25 year investment banking career.

He joined BNP Paribas as head of equity sales for the Americas in August 2010, but was later promoted to head up the equities business in the region. Before that he founded his own hedge fund, Greenock Capital Management, and also set up an equity sales, advisory and structuring firm called CJI Capital Markets.

Before switching into hedge funds in 2007, he was global head of equity derivatives and prime brokerage at Bank of America.

Innes did not respond to requests for more information on the firm.

Contact for news, tips and comments: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

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