Authors Page - Trade Finance Global

In her role at EFA Krystal has a focus to increase the Export Credit Agency’s profile in the market by working with banks, government agencies, businesses and advisors in the SME market. Prior to joining Export Finance Australia Krystal worked in the commercial banking sector for Westpac and National Australia Bank specialising in International Trade Finance. Krystal has over 15 years’ experience in the Corporate sector across public sector accounting and banking.

David Collins has lectured and researched globally, focusing on international economic law, WTO law, and international investment law.  He specialises in the law of the World Trade Organization and international investment law. He has advised governments, NGOs, and multinational companies. A qualified Solicitor in England and Wales and a member of the Bars of Ontario and New York, David was appointed to the NAFTA Chapter 19 panel of arbitrators by Canada in 2018 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science in 2021.

Enrique Acosta is the Co-Founder of ES Information Systems / Eye-Seal, a collaboration with Coremet Trading. Enrique and the Eye-Seal team successfully developed the Eye-Seal internal container breach solution that have been awarded two US patents. The product and design was self-funded until 2019 when Eye-Seal completed a Series A round of funding with a group of logistics experts and the Texas A&M University Aggie network. In addition to his recent success and traction with Eye-Seal, Enrique leads BMB Metals, a scrap metal broker firm that is self-financed and has a presence in over 10 countries world-wide. Enrique has become an expert in maritime shipping and cargo logistics maximising opportunities for BMB. Prior to opening BMB, Enrique was part of AMI Trading in Miami, Florida from 1993 to 2003 specialising in business development for Latin America and the Caribbean. AMI provided Enrique with a perfect platform to learn about maritime cargo and move forward to start his own business.

Chathura Sudharshan is the Founder of Seamless Source which is a tech-related platform that helps fashion brands create a more efficient value chain. He’s an entrepreneur with several global track records and awards in innovation, which have been earned throughout his entrepreneurial journey. Chathura’s experience in the fashion industry spans the globe, having worked in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, China, France, Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom. He brings a strong ground-level experience in fashion supply chains from design to delivery. Combining this experience with his innovative mindset, Chathura and his team built the fashion tech platform, Seamless Source.

Stan Cole is a seasoned financial professional with 20+ years’ experience in financial institutions (FIs) transaction banking and fintech. Stan’s FI banking career with top five Canadian banks spanned portfolios of foreign FIs across multiple geographies in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) where he managed client relationship and sales of trade financing and clearing services to banks. In 2017 Stan transitioned to the payments fintech industry, facilitating networking and opening partnerships with provider banks, and leading sales to FIs of alternative cross-border payment products. Currently, Stan utilises his deep understanding of both correspondent banking and fintech international payments models, to help emerging financial market infrastructures (FMI) redesign legacy correspondent banking to remove inefficiencies (frictions) in the payments chain and make cross-border payments instant – i.e. processed and settled in real time. Topics of special focus are common ledger banking, super centralized liquidity, and real-time settlement of payments in a secure medium such as central bank money.

Duygu Karakuzu is an Account Manager at Trade Finance Global (TFG). She manages key client relationships and oversees strategic partnerships with multilateral banks and associations, ensuring the successful execution of marketing and editorial projects. Previously, Duygu was a Marketing Assistant at TFG, where she managed events and partner relationships, oversaw planning and execution, and delivered strategic campaigns. She holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Strategic Marketing from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Language and Literature from TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey.

Ruud Grotens is the Head of Solution Consulting – Cybercrime and Fraud Risk Management – at Bottomline. This is a role that he has held for two years, prior to which he spent fourteen years at Fiserv. Ruud has over thirty years of experience advising a mixture of banks and non-banks about financial crime risk management technology, anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing, sanctions, tax evasion, internal/external fraud, including payment fraud and cybercrime. Ruud is a Certified Financial Crime Specialist (ACFCS) and holds a master’s degree Computing Science from Radboud University in The Netherlands.

Nino was appointed to her current role as the Chief Risk Office of JSC TBC Bank in 2020. Prior to that, Nino held progressively senior positions at TBC after she first joined the Bank in 2000. Nino was appointed as the Deputy CEO of the Bank in 2006, leading TBC’s retail and MSME businesses at various times. Nino also serves on the supervisory boards of TBC’s key subsidiaries, including TBC Uzbekistan, TBC Leasing, and Space International, TBC’s digital banking platform. Nino has over 25 years of financial services and banking experience in Georgia. In her earlier career, Nino held various leadership and managerial positions at JSC TbilCom Bank and the Barents Group.

Mohamed is a strategic leader and seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in the Banking, Finance, and corporate sectors in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He spent the last 20 years of his career assisting and counseling organizations to fight Financial Crimes in the Middle East and Africa. Mohamed’s expertise in compliance focuses on Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT), Anti-Bribery, and Anti-Corruption (ABC) programs. Through years working with prominent financial institutions including regulators, he attained tremendous knowledge in regulations, requirements, processes, Fintech and Regtech solutions, and best practices across all sectors. Mohamed regularly collaborates as a keynote speaker on Financial Crime and Compliance through awareness workshops, forums and conferences.

Jochen is the Team Head of Correspondent Banking Emerging Markets in DZ BANK. He is in charge of CEE/CIS countries, Turkey and Latin America. As befits the Central Bank for the cooperative sector and one of the largest financial groups in Germany, DZ BANK maintains an enduring and growing business relationship i.a. with Central Asian countries. Jochen has been active in corporate and international trade finance for over 25 years. He held various positions of responsibility with German banks in the areas of correspondent banking, short and medium term financing as well as ECA covered long term export finance. For most of that time, Jochen had a focus on CEE / CIS markets, particularly since he spent 5 years as a representative in Belarus. In that capacity he also became a board member of the German-Belarusian Business Club and participated in various councils such as the Foreign Investment Advisory Council. Jochen holds a degree in business administration of the University of Freiburg. 

Having worked in the City for 40 years I have a wealth of experience in banking, financial markets, investment and the asset servicing custody industry. Henry has a have a proven track record of establishing and growing businesses with extensive expertise in foreign exchange trading, sales and client relationship management. Most recently he set up Currency Solutions Services, an independent consultancy offering a broad range of professional currency services and bespoke solutions to manage foreign currency risk however simple or complex. CSS specifically focuses on U&HNWI, wealth managers, family offices, boutique fund managers and privately owned businesses. In Henry’s previous position at Brown Brothers Harriman, he was recruited as Head of Foreign Exchange Sales UK & Europe to launch their business outside of US. He was appointed Global Head of Sales and Relationship Management and responsible for teams in New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. A global leader who successfully implemented an ambitious growth strategy while also developing a collaborative and open team culture between the different business centres. Prior to joining BBH in 2000 Henry spent 12 years at Bank Julius Baer where I was Head of Trading, Treasury and Foreign Exchange and Deputy Branch Manager in London. Initially He was the Head of Sales, Treasury and Foreign Exchange but my role broadened significantly as a strategy to expand the business across a broader universe of asset class mandates was implemented. I became a business leader building and managing diverse high performing teams achieving ambitious revenue targets. A reputation for being a collaborative business leader capable of building successful global businesses based on a strong team culture, partnering across different geographies and business teams, delivering exceptional quality of client service and complying with best market practice corporate governance standards.

Kate Nkatha is a commercial expert having gained valuable leadership and entrepreneurship expertise in the media, fast-moving consumer goods, health, and agricultural sectors. Some of these organisations include Nation Media Group, Mondelez International (formerly Cadbury Schweppes), SC Johnson and Son, and Population Services Kenya (part of Population Services International). She holds a Master’s degree (Business Administration) and an executive postgraduate certificate in Social Impact Strategies from the University of Pennsylvania. Having started her career as a freelance sales agent in the media industry, Kate is currently the Commercial Director at Fairtrade Africa, an affiliate of Fairtrade International. Her current role entails offering sustainable supply chain solutions to global and regional brands, manufacturers, and retailers whilst providing market access to improve livelihoods for 1.3 million farmers located in 28 countries across Africa and the Middle East. Kate is passionate about trade and the opportunities that Fairtrade Africa offers organisations to balance financial and social returns on investment. Kate serves as an advisory board member for Talent Gurus 254 and Go Getters Africa Limited.

Ralph is the Director of Research at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a part-time Professor of Finance at KU Leuven. Ralph also is a  CEPR Research Fellow; a member of the CEPR’s Research and Policy Network on Sustainable Finance; Fellow at the European Banking Center; Research Associate at the ZEW–Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research; and Practitioner Director at the Financial Management Association (FMA). He is a Dutch national, Ralph earned a PhD in economics from Utrecht University, and he was the recipient of the 2014 Willem F. Duisenberg Prize, awarded by the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences. He is also a CEPR Research Fellow, a member of CEPR’s Research and Policy Network on Sustainable Finance, a Fellow of the European Banking Center, and affiliated with KU Leuven as a Professor of Finance. Before joining EBRD, I acquired valuable experience as a Senior Economist at De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank. Over the course of several years, Ralph contributed to a variety of policy areas spanning banking supervision, European integration, financial stability, structural reforms, and monetary policy. His own research lies at the intersection of empirical banking and development economics. He is particularly interested in firms’ and households’ access to financial services; the stability aspects of global banking; finance and green growth; and the role of gender in the economy. My work has been published in various peer-reviewed academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Review of Finance, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Economic Growth, Economic Journal, and the Journal of International Economics. He also regularly contribute to the economics website VoXEU.

Traditional Trade Product Specialist and a chartered accountant by qualification, with more than 12 years’ experience in the following areas of discipline International Trade Finance Product Management, Product Control, financial reporting, auditing, and project management.  Current role, a Senior Trade Finance Product Manager at Standard Bank Group based in Johannesburg in the Transaction Banking business unit, servicing the corporate and Investment Division clients. This role focuses on partnership with Standard Bank Group’s product heads across all our 20 markets in the sub-Sahara to drive and implement the bank’s traditional trade finance product banking solutions such as risk mitigants like guarantees, letters of credit and foreign bills of collection’s strategy with focus on achieving the vision of being the top Trade bank in Africa.   

Hubert has supported Polish Exporters in BGK since 2019. Responsible for offering products: Buyer’s credit (Project Finance, Sovereign Finance, Corporate Finance, Joint Venture), Export Prefinancing credit, Foreign investment and expansion loans (M&A, greenfield, brownfield).

Kirtana Mahendran is a dedicated Marketing Assistant at Trade Finance Global (TFG). Kirtana holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Business Management (Marketing) from the University of Surrey. Kirtana was awarded a bronze achievement in Finance and Computer Science from Ashbourne College, Kensington. She has a strong passion for marketing and very much enjoys using creativity in coming up with modern and innovative ideas.Kirtana Mahendran is a dedicated Marketing Assistant at Trade Finance Global (TFG). Kirtana holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Business Management (Marketing) from the University of Surrey. Kirtana was awarded a bronze achievement in Finance and Computer Science from Ashbourne College, Kensington. She has a strong passion for marketing and very much enjoys using creativity in coming up with modern and innovative ideas.

Jérôme is the Director and Founder of Tinubu which he launched with Olivier Placca in 2000. His capability to embrace both New Technologies and the insurance world resulted in the successful digital transformation of many Credit Insurance and Surety Bond companies which outperformed the market and took share from competition. Prior to founding Tinubu, Jérôme spent a decade at Euler-Hermes playing a leading role in developing the Group’s international risk expertise and global network. He had also built a previous 10 years’ experience at Arthur Andersen, Renault S.A and Paribas Group. Jérôme graduated with a master’s degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the ESC Reims Business School. He served as an Advisor both for the French Military Operational Reserve and for International Trade. He is also a member of the Commission de l’Intelligence Economique.

Sarah leads Core Trade & Supply Chain Finance product strategies and launches for JP Morgan’s Middle East & Africa cluster. She has over 10 years of Trade Finance experience across Citi, Deutsche Bank, and Natixis. She holds a postgraduate certificate in Sustainable Finance from the London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) and was honoured as one of Binance’s scholarship grant recipients, enabling her pursuit of a Master’s Degree in Blockchain & Crypto. Driven by her passion for merging Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles with cutting-edge technology, Sarah’s mission centres around the integration of these concepts into the realms of trade finance and transaction banking. She also serves as a committee member at the International Trade & Forfaiting Association (ITFA) Middle East Regional Committee (MERC) and acts as ITFA’s Ambassador for Emerging Leaders in the region. In her most recent role, Sarah served as the Global Business Development Director at Impel, an innovative fintech built on the XDC Network Blockchain, driving peer-to-peer instant settlement for institutions globally.