This isn't that unusual, many companies with ESPP's and options offer loans to their normal employees to buy stock or exercise their options. This is pretty mu

This isn't that unusual, many companies with ESPP's and options offer loans to their normal employees to buy stock or exercise their options. This is pretty much the same like when a company offers an employee share purchasing program where you can buy say $20,000 worth of restricted stock within the allotted time window which is usually a few weeks but your company then spreads the payment over 6-12 months by deducting your pay each month. Companies also offer a similar service when you have options vesting they offer to pay the tax for you that month and spread it out over several months so you won't have to immediately convert some of the shares you get to pay for exercising the option. Just for reference my US employer in the UK offers this, several other companies in the UK i worked for also offered similar services. Companies here offer loans all the time including for things like seasonal train tickets (some forfeit the loan and you have to pay just the tax value on it after a year of employment for train passes) and other large expenses which are work related.