Authors Page - Trade Finance Global

Louis Taylor is Chief Executive of UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency. He is also a Director General in the Department for International Trade, and a member of its Executive Committee and Management Board. Before joining UKEF, Louis held a range of senior roles at Standard Chartered Bank, including from 2013 to 2015 as Chief Operating Officer of Group Treasury, based in London. Before that, he spent three years as the bank’s CEO for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, based in Ho Chi Minh City. During this time he was also Vice Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham). He joined Standard Chartered in London in 2004, working in Group Corporate Development, which undertakes the bank’s acquisitions, divestments and other inorganic growth initiatives. His earlier career included eight years working for JP Morgan in debt capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, and five years in corporate development and strategy with two industrial companies, Cookson Group plc and BTR plc. Louis is a trustee of the charity Sightsavers, which prevents sight loss and promotes equal rights for people with disabilities. He is also a former chair of trustees of the charity Music in Prisons, which runs music education projects to help rehabilitate offenders, and a former chair of governors of the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne. He has an MA in Law from Cambridge University.

Qamar Saleem is the Regional Manager Advisory Services, Financial Institutions Group for Asia and Pacific, and the Global Lead for SME and Supply Chain Finance Practice at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. In this role, Qamar heads IFC’s Financial Institutions advisory services business spanning across nearly 40 countries, covering over 200 financial sector clients and providing technical support across 10 thematic areas such as MSME, SCF, Climate, Digital, Housing, Agri, Gender finance. IFC’s MSME Banking and Supply Chain Finance advisory services specifically supports the financial sector globally in building and scaling MSME Banking and SCF businesses at the market, financial intuition and firm levels. Qamar has over 27 years of experience in diverse commercial banking and business transformation initiatives globally. He is a recognized development finance expert working across Asia driving IFC’s financial intuition clients into playing an active role in promoting inclusion, climate change response, and enabling the digital economy. He is also an MSME Banking and Supply Chain Finance expert and has played leadership roles in expanding the MSME and SCF portfolios of financial institutions across the Middle East; North Africa; Eastern Europe; Africa; Latin America; East, Central and South Asia. He is a featured speaker, thought leader and trainer at numerous MSME and SCF knowledge sharing forums across the world and has steered partnerships with various private and public sector entities in helping augment support mechanisms for increasing financial inclusion of especially the micro, small and medium enterprise segments. Prior to joining IFC, Qamar was associated with internationally recognized banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank as well as large regional banks operational in several emerging markets. Qamar holds a master’s degree in business administration and carries several certifications in the areas of Strategy, Business Transformation, SME Banking, Corporate Leadership, Supply Chain Finance, Credit, Risk, Trade, Treasury, Sales, Transaction Banking and Product Management.

Jeff joined BACB in 2016 as Head of Trade Finance and now holds the position of Managing Director, Head of Client Coverage. He is responsible for business development and executing the bank’s strategy by managing financial institution relationships through regional Relationship Managers, whilst working closely with exporters, predominantly across Europe, thus reinforcing the bank’s two client approach. Jeff has over 25 years’ experience in the field of trade finance, having previously held senior positions at National Bank of Abu Dhabi (now FAB) where he was Global Transaction Banking Head for Europe and Americas and at Bank ABC in London as European Head of Marketing. During his career, Jeff has concluded regional and global receivables finance facilities for a number of major corporates in various industrial sectors including energy, automotive and telecoms.

Harsh has more than a decade of experience in commercial banking with a focus on trade. Having earlier worked for a development institution, he has developed a passion for social issues and has been promoting inclusion of trade financing at a micro-level. He is currently working for the Canadian subsidiary of an Indian commercial bank and is based out of Toronto. Harsh enjoys the outdoors and is working towards his first book.

Anirban works at BDC, a federal Crown Corp and national development bank wholly owned by the Government of Canada. His core competencies include building & maintaining relationships with internal & external stakeholders, underwriting proposals, and keeping abreast of changes to policies, procedures, processes & trends. He holds an MSc in Finance from ESADE Business School in Spain and a BA with a double major in economics and international development studies from McGill University in Canada. At McGill University, he has represented The International Relations Students’ Association of McGill at the 54th United Nations Commission for Social Development Conference in New York and served as a director of the student-run India-Canada Economic Forum. In his free time, Anirban enjoys volunteering for community service projects. He also likes to travel to new countries to broaden his knowledge of history, food and cultures.

Aditya Dadheech is a Chartered Accountant based in Mumbai. He gained immense business insights while his stint with the EY (Mumbai) and KPMG (Muscat).  His expertise lies in business risk assurance, forensic accounting, international taxation and IT systems audits.  Aditya is fond of Indian Classical Music and reading.

Elif Kuman Saran has over ten years of experience in banking and finance. She has a strong interest in and knowledge of complex, structured, multi-party deals and financings. She currently manages project and structured trade finance loans for a private international bank. She is an ardent supporter of diversity in workplaces and women’s empowerment in business.

Lungi is a Structured Trade and Commodity Finance Specialist with over 10 years of experience in various international banks, focusing on Eastern and Southern African portfolios. Outside the corporate world, she is recognized as an intrepid sailor—becoming the first African woman to sail to the Arctic—an explorer, and a Climate Change Advocate. In her role as a Sustainable Finance Champion, Lungi has sought to integrate her climate science fieldwork from sailing into corporate systems, promoting green investments, sustainable economies, and purpose-driven practices. Her interest in polar research is driven by a desire to make climate change and plastic pollution issues relatable to ordinary people, highlighting the importance of polar regions to the rest of the world.

Attorney and policy-maker with over a decade of experience from both the public and private sectors, with a focus in the Asia Pacific region. Expert in digital trade, e-commerce, cross-border data flows, sharing economy, and TradeTech. Former positions include Senior Legal Counsel, Airbnb; Assistant General Counsel, US Trade and Development Agency; and Corporate Associate, law firm of Shearman & Sterling. Currently runs the Digital Trade programme at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. Undergraduate degree, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Juris Doctor degree, George Washington University Law School. Speaks fluent Chinese.

Chris Moore is a Principal Consultant at Capco, and a lead in its Financial Crime practice. His expertise extends into risk management in operations, CDD, conduct, suitability, product risk and governance. A career spanning 3 continents and 15 years in corporate, commercial, transaction banking and trade finance underpins his management consultancy and client delivery.

Abhishek Gupta has over 14 years of experience in Trade finance in the Banking sector. He possesses various Globally recognized certifications in Banking including Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS), Certificate in International Trade Finance (CITF), Certificate Course in Foreign Exchange, Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB). He is keen on the implementation of various digitalization and automation initiatives in trade finance and in learning upcoming technologies like Blockchain and Artificial intelligence. He has participated in various national & international conferences in the past as a speaker and panelist. He has authored numerous articles on blockchain and trade finance and presented a paper titled “Blockchain technology: Application in Indian Banking sector” in the International Conference in Jan 2018. This paper has been published in the “Delhi Business Review” which is listed in UGC approved List 1, CABELL’S Directory, USA, Index Copernicus, ProQuest, The Indian Journal Of Commerce, EBSCO.

Zoltan Kormoczi has been engaged in trade finance activities in the past 15 years. He has seen first-hand businesses transactions in international trade via its bank as a member of FCI and been involved in many structured trade finance deals later on in his corporate banking career. He holds a CITF obtained from LIBF and enthusiastically follows trade related news and developments. He is currently studying for a global MBA and is engaged in writing his thesis on supply chain and blockchain technology.

Mohammed Ragab has nearly 7 years of work experience in the trade finance industry ranging across multiple financial institutions. His current role in operations has further deepened his knowledge of trade finance and its various tools, applications, and nuances.

Haitham Mohamed Elsaid an international letters of guarantee manager at Qatar National Bank Al-Alahli located in Egypt. He earned a Ph.D. degree in accounting from the Faculty of Commerce -Cairo University (Egypt) in 2017. He was also granted the Certificate for Specialists in Demand Guarantees (CSDG) from the London Institute of Banking & Finance- London in 2015. He became Certified Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA) in 2020. He is the author of many business and academic articles published in various international periodicals and websites.

Deborah ELMS is Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore. The Asian Trade Centre works with governments and businesses to create better trade policy for Asia. She is Vice Chair of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA). She is also on the advisory committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance, (GTPA), including co-chair of the Trade Policy committee. She is a senior fellow in the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Trade Academy. Previously, she was head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations (TFCTN) and senior fellow of international political economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Elms received a PhD in political science from the University of Washington, a MA in international relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University.

Guillermo is Advisory Counsellor of the Argentine Brazilian Chamber of Commerce of São Paulo.

Alan Ball is a Structured and bespoke credit insurance solutions in Texel Group with a focus on credit portfolios and illiquid asset classes. He was a Senior underwriter co-heading structured risks underwriting team at insurer. Former practicing solicitor with over a decade of corporate and structured finance experience.

Juan is a legal and policy consultant.  Juan has advised on trade, investment law, competition law, economic development and intellectual property. He has worked for the Colombian Competition Authority where he advised policymakers by identifying unnecessary laws and regulations that restrict competition in the marketplace and propose developing alternative less restrictive policies that still achieve government objectives. Also, given his trade law background he adviced the Colombian Deputy Superintendent for Competition Protection in the Committee on Customs, Tariffs and Foreign Trade and in the Commercial Practices Committee where it is decided the Colombian trade policy. He has helped develop special economic zone (SEZ) programs for countries in Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Also, he worked in a consulting project related to Sudan’s Accession to World Trade Organization (WTO) where he proposed amends to the Sudanese laws and administrative decrees that cover intellectual property rights and geographical indications. Also, he participated as a research assistant on a paper about the Coffee Value Chain the Intangibles involved in the trade dynamics of the coffee for the WIPO fourth Report in 2017. Juan holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Economics, from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia and an LL.M. of International Economics Laws and Policy from University of Barcelona, Spain. Juan speaks Spanish (Native), English (Fluent) French (Fluent) and Portuguese (Good working Knowledge).  He is a member of the Centro de Estudios Regulatorios Latam and the Think tank Al Centro. He is also licensed to practice law in Colombia.