Authors Page - Trade Finance Global

George Riddell is an Associate Director for International Trade Policy where he works with Deloitte’s Brexit Insights Centre advising clients on all things trade and Brexit. He joined Deloitte after six years representing the UK at the World Trade Organisation where he focused on services trade and worked on the UK’s Brexit transition in the WTO. He also took part in several ongoing trade negotiations in Geneva. He also spent time seconded to the Kenyan Trade Ministry as well as working with trade-related think tanks. George has an MA in International Relations and a BA in History, both from Durham University.

Marc Auboin is a Counsellor in the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO, responsible for the institution’s trade and finance agenda, including trade finance, and for WTO relations with the IMF and World Bank. Previously he held several positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was Deputy-Secretary General of the Monetary Committee of the European Union, worked for the French Treasury. Mr. Auboin holds a PhD in Economics and published extensively on trade finance issues in academic books and articles. He runs the WTO Expert Group on Trade Finance.

Before co-founding Llewellyn Consulting, John was Global Chief Economist and then Senior Economic Policy Advisor at Lehman Brothers. This followed almost twenty years at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where variously he was Head of International Forecasting and Policy Analysis, Editor of the OECD Economic Outlook, Deputy Director for Social Affairs, Manpower and Education, and finally Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary-General. Prior to that he spent nearly ten years at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Cambridge, and he was also a Fellow of St. John’s College. John earned his undergraduate degree at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and his doctorate at the University of Oxford. He has published widely.

Robert’s practice includes financing arrangements across the commodity and trade industry. He represents banks and non-bank financiers, funds, large and medium-sized commodity traders, producers, credit insurers and other participants in financing and monetising the international production, storage, movement and distribution of both raw materials and manufactured goods. Robert advises regularly on structured trade and inventory finance and the use of financial instruments such as letters of credit, bills of exchange, promissory notes and other secure payment arrangements in international trade, as well as has expertise in related disputes. Robert has an established reputation in the increasingly important field of digital trade, working on the establishment of digital platforms and the use and enforceability of electronic trade documents and payment instruments. He is also a regular speaker and writer on both digital trade and commodity and trade finance, and is the editor of the legal journal Finance and Credit Law.

Richard joined Bloomberg in September 2015, focusing on the promotion of Bloomberg’s Open Symbology initiative in the European market. This role includes prioritising the adoption of the Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI) by EU regulators, thereby enabling firms to use the FIGI in their compliance with new EU reporting obligations. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Richard spent 20 years with the financial messaging and standards body – SWIFT, where he held a variety of roles in sales and marketing. Most recently Richard was Head of Regulatory Affairs at SWIFT, where he contributed to the development of new services arising from regulatory change, including services for reporting to Trade Repositories and reference data/standards initiatives, such as the development of SWIFT’s services for the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI).

Phongpetch Chuasakulvanich is the Vice President of International Trade at Kasikornbank PLC

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Banking Circle looks at the challenges and opportunities ahead for financial institutions serving SMEs

Michael has almost 40 years of banking experience and joined Bank Leumi (UK) in 2014. He honed his expertise in several senior positions across the various sectors of the commodity finance industry, working in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

Vinco David is the Berne Union Secretary General since 2017. Prior to this, he has served as a Management Committee Member and as the Chair of the Investment Insurance Committee. A Dutch national, he has over 30 years’ experience in various aspects of credit and investment insurance, including more than 20 with leading international credit insurer Atradius, in diverse management roles across strategy, product development, economic research, project finance, marketing, underwriting and claims. He holds an MA in political science and international relations and a BA in economics and Italian language and literature from the Free Reformed University of Amsterdam.

Emma Parsons, based in United Kingdom, is currently a Regional Director at Bahrain Economic Development Board. Emma Parsons brings experience from previous roles at Embiz and Oxford Intelligence. Emma Parsons holds a Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance. With a robust skill set that includes International Business, Strategic Partnerships, International Business Development, International Trade, Economics and more.

Sihem Mouelhi, based in London, has nearly a decade of experience in compliance and financial crime risk management across Europe. She has held roles at leading financial institutions and consulting firms, including management positions at Citigroup, Ernst & Young, and Capco, before serving as Chief Operating Officer at Elucidate. Currently, Sihem works in Business Risk and Controls Transformation at Citi Global Wealth. She holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of Montreal and a Master’s in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.

Emmanuelle Ganne is Senior Analyst in the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) where she leads WTO work on Blockchain. She is the author of a recently published WTO book entitled “Can Blockchain Revolutionize International Trade?”

Raquel was a part of the Student Writer Programme at Trade Finance Global. She studied International Politics at the City University of London and was an intern at the House of Commons.

Mishal Ruparel has over 15 years of experience in banking and financial technology, having held senior positions at Barclays, WorldPay, and First Data in roles including Corporate Finance, International Development, and Sales. He is currently the General Manager for Banking Circle, a unique provider of banking services to the financial tech industry. Mishal has been involved in the company’s journey from inception to becoming a global financial infrastructure that services banks and payment businesses. In 2019, Banking Circle became a fully licensed bank, backed by EQT, enabling banks and payment firms to offer their customers fast, low-cost international payments and banking solutions. Based in Singapore, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance, obtained between 2000 and 2003.

Sukand is a leader in BCG’s financial services and technology practices. He advises clients in financial institutions, technology and other service industries on digital and technology enabled transformations. He leads the firms’ corporate banking segment in Europe, as well as its global work on Tech & Ops in capital markets. He is a leader in customer service operations across service industries. Since joining BCG, Sukand has focused on wholesale banks around the world, helping transform their engagement with customers, segmenting & pricing effectively, harnessing technology automation, process and organisation design to transform how they operate. He has deep experience in customer service transformations, in deploying technologies ((gen)AI(ML), Robotics, Workflow, Cloud) to drive a step change in how value is delivered to customers. In addition, Sukand provides expert input on customer service, technology, cloud and digital transformations to clients across Airlines, Telco, Technology and Utilities in addition to his core in banking.

CBI Managing Director, Vice President of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business and the Italian Representative at ISO Technical Committee 68 Financial Services and ISO20022 RMG. She also holds positions of an Independent Board Member of companies. For over twenty years she has been the author of numerous articles and papers also in the international press, key note speaker, recognized opinion leader in the field of digitization of financial services, Electronic Payments and Open Banking. In 2021, she was included by Forbes Italy among the “100 influential Italian women of 2021″, nominated among the “Inspiring Fifty Italy” as a “role model” in STEM subjects, awarded Women in Finance – 2020/2021 Italy Awards in the category “Woman in FinTech of the Year” by the British Embassy in Italy, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lener & Partners and Borsa Italiana, through the vote of an exceptional jury from the Italian institutional, financial and business world, as well as awarded by Le Fonti TV as “Managing Director of the Year – Banking”.

Daniel is the Deputy CEO of Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank and has led the project from its start with a goal of building the most data-driven digitally-enabled Trade Finance bank.

Alex started his career as a maritime lawyer with Holman Fenwick & Willan in London, Athens and Hong Kong. He then joined Freehill, Hogan & Mahar in New York, where his clients included many leading ship operators. In 2005, Alex co-founded essDOCS with the aim of eliminating the significant inefficiencies resulting from the use of paper documentation in shipping and trade. Today, Alex serves as essDOCS Co-CEO & CRO, where he is responsible for the Company’s strategic direction while overseeing all revenue-generating aspects of the business.