Chung will join the business from 23 September, taking over from Roy Warren, who has been managing director of FOLK2FOLK since 2019 and is retiring from the business.
Warren will join the board as an independent non-executive director in January next year.
Chung was most recently head of assets at SilverRock Bank for around a year and before that was managing director of Intriva Capital for around three years.
He has also been a partner at ARA Veen for around seven years and prior to that spent nearly 11 years at Royal Bank of Scotland in various senior roles.
The company has also made Claire Richards executive director designate, subject to regulatory approval.
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She is currently head of operations at the firm and has been with the company since 2018.
FOLK2FOLK said that under Warren’s leadership, the business has delivered six consecutive years of profitability and deployed over £780m in property-backed loans to small businesses across the UK.
Chung said: “I’m honoured to be joining FOLK2FOLK at such a pivotal moment. The business has carved out a distinctive space in UK finance, and I’m excited to build on that legacy. My focus will be on strengthening our lending proposition, deepening our broker relationships, and continuing to deliver value for UK SMEs and their introducers.”
Tim Sawyer, chairman of FOLK2FOLK, added: “Roy has steered FOLK2FOLK through a transformative period, delivering consistent profitability and embedding the values that set this business apart. We’re grateful for his leadership and pleased we’ll continue to benefit from his insight and experience on the board.
“At the same time, we’re delighted to warmly welcome Kawai as CEO. His depth and breadth of experience in financial services and alignment with our mission make him the right leader to take FOLK2FOLK into its next chapter.”
