Group Executive, Habib Metropolitan Bank

Mr. Syed Ather Ahmed is part of senior management of Habib Metropolitan Bank (HMB), one of the leading trade finance banks of Pakistan. He is currently the Group Executive for Commercial Banking (South) & Financial Institutions business of HMB. In addition, Mr. Ahmed is also on the Board of Directors of two of HMB’s subsidiaries. Prior to joining HMB in January 2022, Mr. Ahmed worked as Group Head of Financial Institutional for Samba Financial Group, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Director & Head of Transaction Banking for Standard Chartered Bank, Pakistan. Overall, Mr. Ahmed has over 30 years of diversified multi-functional financial sector experience covering areas of Corporate & Investment Banking, Commercial Banking, Financial Institutions, Transaction Banking, Treasury and Asset Management.
Mr. Ahmed completed his M.Sc. in Accounting & Finance degree from the London School of Economics as a Britannia Chevening Scholar in 1998. He also holds an MBA from Lahore University of Management Sciences, leading business school of Pakistan.

Global Head, Payables Finance, Citigroup

Parvaiz Dalal Heads Global Payables Financing Vertical for Citigroup.

Parvaiz role is to integrates various offerings into a holistic solution across payables vertical for clients on a global basis.

Payables Finance comprises of Supply Chain Financing,(a flagship & market leader product offering), Dynamic Discounting, Open account Draft discounting and various related Financing across payables value chain of Institutional and Commercial Client Group of Citigroup.

Parvaiz lead the business end to end, including Product Management, On-boarding and Sales capabilities, working in close partnership with Sales, Coverage and Banking partners.

MD, Head, Financial Resources and Risk Management, Trade and Working Capital Solutions, Citigroup

Murat joined Citi in 1994 and has held multiple roles (including Head of Loan Syndications for CEEMEA region and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Türkiye) during a 26-year career at Citi.

He leads Financial Resources and Risk Management team in Trade & Working Capital Solutions (TWCS). He is a member of the TWCS Executive Committee. Additionally, Murat leads the newly created Credit Risk Management team for the Services business.

Murat holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Boĝaziçi University, Istanbul.

Group Head, Trade, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

Souleymane is currently the Group Head of Trade Finance at Ecobank, overseeing the Trade product suites for the past five years. He has been with the Ecobank group for 13 years, starting as the Corporate Bank Head of Ecobank Senegal. Souleymane holds a Master of Business Administration in International Management from Thunderbird – Global School of Management (Arizona, US), and a bachelor’s degree in Economic Sciences from the University of Reims (France).

Regional Vice President, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, IFC

Alfonso García Mora is IFC’s Vice President for Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, where he oversees IFC’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19, building a pipeline of investments, and fostering collaboration with stakeholders.
A Spanish national with twenty years of experience, he was previously IFC’s Vice President for Asia and the Pacific; a World Bank Director; and a Managing Director in Analistas Financieros Internacionales (AFI). He has a PhD in Financial Economics from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

Vice President, Industries, IFC

Mohamed Gouled is IFC’s Vice President of Industries, managing IFC’s global sector communities of practice and ensuring that lessons learned from IFC operations contribute to the WBG’s global knowledge bank. He leads business development with global clients and fosters collaboration across WBG to align sector strategies, enhance client delivery, and support policy/sector reforms. Mr. Gouled, a Djiboutian national, was previously VP of Risk and Finance from 2017. He joined IFC in 1999 as an Investment Officer.

Regional Trade Lead-Middle East and Pakistan, IFC

Ahmed Hanaa is a seasoned Transaction Banker with 25 years of experience in Trade, and SCF. He joined IFC in 2010 as Trade specialist and currently serves as IFC Middle East & Pakistan Trade Lead. He started his career with Citi as a Trade associate and has thereon successfully risen through ranks till heading Citi Egypt’s Trade Product management & later heading Cash Management department. Ahmed holds bachelor’s from Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University and MBA from Edinburgh Business School UK.

Expert Underwriter Lead, Swiss Re CorSo

Volker Handrich, a German citizen born 21st November 1964, has a law degree from the University of Konstanz, Germany.
He joined in 1991 the reinsurance industry where he had various underwriting roles in P&C reinsurance before he moved in 2005 to the Bank Trade Finance Team of GE Insurance Solutions which became part of Swiss Re in 2006. After being for years Head FI Risks he now is Expert Underwriter within the Trade Finance team.

Europe Editor, The Banker

Anita Hawser is the Europe editor at The Banker. For the past 20 years, Anita has worked as a freelance journalist for a range of banking, finance and tech titles covering topics such as cybersecurity, financial crime, cryptocurrencies, payments, trade and supply chain finance. Before joining The Banker, Anita was Europe editor at Global Finance.

Corporate Finance and Sustainability Editor, GlobalCapital

Managing Director, Bank Asia Limited

Mr. Sohail R K Hussain is the Managing Director of Bank Asia Limited, a leading private commercial bank in Bangladesh. Prior to joining Bank Asia Limited, Mr. Hussain led two other private commercial banks in the country, namely, City Bank PLC (2013-2019) and Meghna Bank PLC (2020-2024) as Managing Director & CEO. Starting his career at ANZ Grindlays Bank, Mr. Hussain has an illustrious banking career spanning over 34 years and worked at Standard Chartered Bank and Eastern Bank PLC in various leadership positions.

Global Head, Trade Finance Financial Institutions, Deutsche Bank

Anand Jha, is Global Head of Trade Finance Financial Institutions at Deutsche Bank. Anand 25 years of trade finance experience with in-depth knowledge of international trade corridors, non-financial risks, regulations in emerging markets and the client needs. Proficient in assessing and mitigating risks associated with cross border trades, face of the bank in managing trade related multilateral relationships and rep offices of Deutsche Bank across the world.

Global Head of Trade Finance Advisory, IFC

Susanne Juliette Kavelaar is the Global Head of Trade Finance Advisory at IFC. She has 25 years of experience in international trade finance and has led various trade finance projects around the globe. Before her present position, she was IFC’s Regional Trade Lead for Latin America and led trade business development in Southern Africa. Susanne holds a Master’s Degree in Latin America Studies and Management of the University of Leiden, The Netherlands.

Management Consultant, Strategic Business Development, Basisbank

Ana is a lead strategy consultant to Banks and Multilateral FIs including IFC, ADB and EBRD. Her global engagements span across Caucasus, CEE and Central Asia, in the domain of Global Banking, TSCF, Business transformation and Digitalization. In her 17+ years professional career, Ana held executive positions bridging multi-cultural stakeholders, with business development focus globally in the domain of Global Banking. She was previously EXCOM member at ICC BC and headed Trade & Structured Finance at Bank of Georgia. Ana currently is a Management Board Consultant – Strategic Business Development at Basisbank, Global MD at Trade Force Global.
Ana holds Masters in Banking & Finance from Tbilisi State University.

Head, Structure Trade Finance, JSC Ukrgasbank

A graduate of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, Gennadiy started his career over 20 years ago, working for a variety of international and Ukrainian investment and commercial banks before joining Oschadbank in 2012. In 2014 he became head of trade finance business at State Savings Bank of Ukraine, which developed into the second largest trade finance institution in Ukraine.
Gennadiy Khelemskyy joined Ukraine’s JSC Ukrgasbank (UGB) in 2018, successfully leading UGB’s structure trade finance business, and developing with his team strong relationships with both IFC and EBRD.
UGB has been the top Ukrainian trade finance bank for five years in a row, and the most active Ukrainian issuing bank for EBRD and IFC since 2020. It has been recognized as one of the top Eastern European Trade Finance banks for several years by GTR Magazine and received Global Finance Magazine awards.
In 2023 UGB played a decisive role in establishing of the Maritime Corridor, which covers the Ukrainian seaborne trade.

Managing Director, Global Head of Trade Distribution, Standard Chartered Bank

Nicolas Langlois is a Managing Director, Global Head of Trade Distribution, based in Singapore. Since July 2015, he looks after all Trade Distribution channels globally for Standard Chartered Bank including Trade Asset Sales and Syndications, Programs, Trade Credit Insurance and Trade Securitisations.
Nicolas started his career in audit with Arthur Andersen in Paris and worked for American Express where he held several roles in finance and business planning in Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore, prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank as CFO for Transaction Banking.

Senior Vice President, Financial Institutions, Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires S.A.U

Vicente is the Senior Vice President, Financial Institutions for Banco Galicia. He has extensive experience in the financial institutions lines of business, having served in FI management in different positions in Argentina, Chile and in the US, covering both banks and non-bank institutions from across the globe. Prior to coming to Banco Galicia, he worked at the Dealing Room in the Treasury division at Standard Charted Bank in New York, successfully leading a team of sales traders.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director of Marketing, East Africa Bank

Mr. Mohamed Joined the bank in June 2014 as Compliance and Credit risk Manager. Two years later, he rose to position of Chief Risk Officer in charge of the Bank Credit Risk and Compliance department. Prior to joining the bank Kamil worked at the Central Bank of Djibouti in the Department of Banking Supervision and Anti Money Laundering and Terrorism financing since 2012. During this period Kamil was in charge of supervising the Islamic banks portfolio especially approval, derogation, monitoring financial and prudential statements, ensuring compliance with Money Laundering and supervision of Money Service Business as well.

Senior Trade Finance Officer, Regional Lead, Trade and Supply Chain Finance – Europe, Central Asia and Türkiye, IFC

Aleksey Nikiforovich is a Senior Trade Finance Officer and a Regional Lead for Trade and Supply Chain Finance in the regions of Europe, Central Asia and Türkiye at International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Aleksey joined IFC in 2009 and before that worked for 7 years at Citibank in Russia, where his latest position was Trade Services Head.

Aleksey holds an MS in Financial Markets from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (USA) and a BA in Accounting from the Belarusian State Economic University, Minsk (Belarus).

Managing Director, Agribusiness, Trade & Sustainable Commodity Finance

Vincent Nobilet is a Managing Director within the Trade and Sustainable Commodity Finance business line of Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking, where he focuses on agribusiness and sustainability. Vincent also co-heads SGCIB’s Sustainable Food & Agribusiness Value Chain, a transversal initiative aimed at adapting services and products to meet the ecological transition objectives of clients.
Vincent has held various positions in France, Asia and Latin-America. He is a graduate from ESCP Business School and a Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA).

Regional Lead, Trade and Supply Chain Finance, Asia and Pacific, IFC

Akintunde Ogunmodede is an investment professional with over 20 years’ experience in commercial, investment and development banking covering trade finance, debt and equity investments to banks and NBFIs.
He is currently IFC’s Asia and Pacific Lead for Trade and Supply Chain Finance Products based in Singapore where he originates and delivers IFC’s short term finance products through global and regional financial institutions and corporates. He was previously based in IFC’s Washington DC office where he worked primarily on trade finance portfolio solutions for global banks, and prior to moving to DC, he was a senior in IFC’s Financial Institutions Group in Lagos.
Prior to joining IFC in 2011, he worked in the Investments Group at Africa Finance Corporation. He started his career in commercial banking where he worked in Treasury Operations, Risk Management and Banking operations.
Akintunde holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and an M.Sc. in Finance and Management from Cranfield University, U.K.

Head, Financial and Multilateral Institutions, CaixaBank

Felipe Oriol is the Head of Financial and Multilateral Institutions at CaixaBank. In this role he oversees all activities involving clients from the financial sector, including banks, insurance companies, and other non-bank financial institutions. Additionally, he is responsible for the relationship with Multilateral Institutions such as the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund, the IFC, Regional Development Banks and the Spanish Development Bank ICO. Prior to joining CaixaBank, Felipe worked as CEO of Gocco, a children’s apparel retail company in Madrid (2004-2009). Before that he worked as a Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group (2001-2004) and at Salomon Brothers International (1997-2000) in London. Felipe earned undergraduate degrees in economics and in law from ICADE, Universidad Pontificia de Comillas de Madrid and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Editor in Chief, Trade Financial Global, TFG

Deepesh Patel is Editor in Chief at Trade Finance Global (TFG). In this role, Deepesh leads efforts in developing TFG’s brand, relationships and strategic direction in key markets, including the UK, US, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong.
Deepesh regularly writes for and speaks at international industry events with the WTO, WEF, BCR, Excred, TXF, The Economist and Reuters, as well as industry associations including ICC, FCI, ITFA and BAFT.
Deepesh is the host of the ‘Trade Finance Talks’ podcast and ‘Trade Finance Talks TV’. He is co-author of ‘Blockchain for Trade’ with the ICC and the WTO, alongside other industry research.
In addition to his work at TFG, Deepesh is a Strategic Advisor for WOA, and a Committee Member of ITFA’s ESG Committee. He also sits on the Fintech Working Group of the Standardised Trust and is an observer on the ICC Sustainable Trade Finance Working Group.
Prior to TFG, Deepesh worked at Travelex where he was responsible for the cards business and the Travelex Money app in Europe, NAM, UK and Brazil. Deepesh is Vice Chair and co-opted Local Authority Governor of the Wyvern Federation of 6 primary schools in South London, and Chair of Herbert Morrisson Primary School.

Director, Trade and Commodity Finance, ING

Bénédict Pillonel is a Director with the Soft Commodities desk at ING in Switzerland. He started his career as a journalist covering the trade business and moved on to lending institutions specializing in financing the flow of commodities. Initially holding risk and market analyst functions with Geneva-based lenders, his current role at ING encompasses his technical and sector expertise across agricultural commodities and geographies, with a strong focus on grains and oilseeds markets.

Regional Vice President for Africa, IFC

Sérgio Pimenta is IFC’s Regional Vice President for Africa. He is in charge of all advisory and investment operations in a region with a committed portfolio of $16.2 billion and more than 750 staff working to expand the private sector’s role in addressing urgent development challenges in the financial, manufacturing, agribusiness and services, and infrastructure industries.

Earlier in his career at IFC, Mr. Pimenta held senior managerial positions in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Washington, DC.

Regional Vice President, Asia and the Pacific, IFC

Riccardo Puliti, an Italian national, is IFC’s Regional Vice President for Asia and the Pacific, focused on scaling sustainable private sector led growth through innovation.
Previously, Mr. Puliti was the World Bank’s Vice President for Infrastructure, and prior to that – Regional Director, Infrastructure for Africa, and Senior Director, Energy and Extractives.
Mr. Puliti also worked at EBRD; Banque Indosuez; and NM Rothschild and Sons. He holds degrees from Instituto Superior de Estudios de la Empresa; Harvard University; and Imperial College.

Head, Financial Institutions, International Business and Home Remittance, Bank Alfalah

Faisal Rashid is the Head of Financial Institutions, International and Home Remittance Business at Bank Alfalah. Faisal is responsible for all the correspondent banking relationships for Pakistan and Bank Alfalah’s overseas branches. In addition to this, he also manages onshore NBFI relationships comprising of Microfinance Banks, Leasing Companies and Developmental Organizations.

In his role as Head of Home Remittance Business Faisal overseas the cross-border payments business initiative of the bank and manages all MTO, Banks and Fintech relationship of the bank.

Faisal holds a Master of Business Administration from Institute of Business Administration Karachi.

Europe Head, Products and Propositions – Trade Finance, HSBC

Sergio Rodriguez joined HSBC in 2006 and has since ascended to a prominent position in Trade Finance after holding different roles withing the area. Currently, he is the Head of Products and Propositions for Trade Finance Europe at HSBC, where he spearheads the development and delivery of cutting-edge trade solutions with focus on Working Capital Optimization, Digital and Sustainable Solutions.

Sergio holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering Process and Finance Management from Valladolid University (Spain). He is a Green and Sustainable Finance Professional by the Chartered Banker Institute and also pursued various certifications and diplomas, including «Certificate in International Trade Finance» and «Certified Specialist in Demand Guarantees» from the London Institute of Banking & Finance.

Member of the Management Board, Ukreximbank

Mr. Shchur was appointed Member of Ukreximbank Management Board by the Supervisory Board on February 1, 2013. In that capacity he is responsible for international borrowings, IFI programs, co-operation with financial institutions and trade finance, and co-ordinates activities of the representative offices of the Bank. He started working in the banking industry in 2000 and has held various positions at JSC Ukreximbank, starting as an Economist in the International Loans Division. Since 2012 he has become the Head of International Borrowings Division.
Mr. Shchur attended Kyiv National Economic University, specializing in International Economy, and T.G. Shevchenko Kyiv State University, specializing in Legal Science.

Managing Director and General Manager, Global Head, Supply Chain Finance, SMBC

Priyamvada Singh is MD and General Manager, Global Trade Finance at SMBC. She joined in June 2022 as Global Head, Supply Chain Finance and since April 2023, also as Co-Head of Global Trade Finance, Americas. Priyamvada has global responsibility for trade working capital solutions including payables, receivables and inventory finance across Americas, EMEA and Asia as well as financial institutions trade. Priyamvada has over 25 years of banking experience in various trade finance leadership roles at Deutsche Bank, IFC and HSBC.

Head, Sustainability Strategy and Monitoring, CaixaBank

Severiano Solana is Head of Sustainability Strategy and Monitoring in CaixaBank since March 2021. He has more than 20 years of experience in financial services, both in Retail banking and Corporate areas, during which among other responsibilities, he led projects related to the strategy design and product development in the field of Sustainability. Severiano graduated in Economics and earned an MBA from the Instituto de Empresa (IE University), Madrid.

Global Food Czar, Bloomberg News

Agnieszka de Sousa is a Senior Food and Agriculture Reporter for Bloomberg News, as well as Bloomberg’s Global Food Czar, coordinating the global coverage of issues from farm to fork.

She has reported on the agrifood markets and industry since 2016, first focusing on grains, soft commodities and farming, and then broadening her scope to include a diverse range of topics from alternative proteins and technology to consumer trends, diets and food inflation. Her special focus is on food security and food’s sustainable transition, and she is passionate about connecting the dots across the food systems.

Prior to food, Agnieszka covered metals and mining. She holds a MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and a PgDip in Economic Policy from SOAS University of London.

Global Manager, Trade and Supply Chain Finance, IFC

Leopoldo Sposato is the Global Manager for Trade and Supply Chain Finance at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). He has worked at the IFC for 24 years across regions including Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe in different roles and sectors, including Manufacturing, Tourism, Real Estate, Health, and Education.

Before IFC, he worked in Citibank Argentina’s corporate finance and retail banking groups. He lives in Washington, D.C., USA.

Leopoldo obtained an Engineering Degree at the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (Argentina) and a master’s in finance at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (Argentina).

Managing Director, Head, Financial Institutions – Emerging Markets, Commerzbank AG

Christian Toben is based in Frankfurt and holds his current position as Head of Financial Institutions (Emerging Markets) since July 2021.

As Regional Head FI Africa, Christian has been leading the FI Sales Team in Frankfurt since 2016 and was also responsible for the activities of our six Representative Offices on the African continent. During this time, he successfully developed the business with financial institutions in Africa. He began his career with Commerzbank in 2001 as a trainee and in 2002 as a Relationship Manager Financial Institutions, before moving to Buenos Aires as a Deputy Representative in 2005. From 2007 to 2016, he was mandated with the setup and management of the Panama Representative Office, which is still responsible for several countries in Central America.

He studied at the Federal University of Recife, Brazil and the University of Bremen (Germany) where he graduated in business administration.

Global Head, Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP) and Global Supply Chain Finance Program (GSCF), IFC

Makiko Toyoda is Global Head of Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP) & Global Supply Chain Finance Program (GSCF) at IFC based in Washington DC. Makiko has more than 30 years of trade & supply chain finance and banking experiences, having worked in Washington DC, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, London, Frankfurt, and Tokyo. She joined IFC in 2003 and was the Sub-Saharan Africa Head based in Johannesburg before assuming the current role as Global Head in 2017. She is a member of WTO’s Trade Finance Expert Working Group. She is also a member of International Trade & Forfaiting Association (ITFA)’s Multilaterals Advisory Panel. Prior to joining IFC, she worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) where she worked on trade and supply chain finance programs, and for the Industrial Bank of Japan (IBJ) where she was the Deputy General Manager. She also worked for Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) under the Staff Exchange Program. Makiko holds a BA degree in Economics from Keio University and a Master’s degree from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.

Chief Treasury Officer, ETG Group

Paul van Spaendonk is Chief Treasury Officer of ETG Group, based in Dubai. Paul is responsible for managing treasury operations and a debt portfolio of over $2.5bn. He gained broad financial and business experience over 22 years in agri and energy commodities. Before joining ETG, Paul worked with ExxonMobil and COFCO International in the Netherlands, Brussels and Geneva. Leading multiple integration and restructuring trajectories. For the last 5 years he was responsible for COFCO International’s corporate finance and bank relations.

Head, Trade and Commodity Finance, Europe, Rabobank

Steven de Vries Reilingh is the Head, Trade and Commodity Finance (TCF Agri), Europe for Rabobank, the world’s leading food and agricultural bank. Together with a team of professionals, Steven manages a portfolio of trading and processing companies active in the principal agricultural commodities, including grains and oilseeds, sugar, coffee, cotton, pulses, dairy, and fertilizers. TCF Agri is also the linking pin for Rabobank’s various departments that focus on smallholder producers, such as Acorn and the Rabo Foundation, and is actively engaged in financing and supporting small coffee farmers in Africa. Before moving to TCF Agri, Steven was active in metals and energy trading and finance in various markets including four years in India and five years in London.

Financial Institutions and Sustainability Coordination Executive Vice President, DenizBank

Mrs. Oğuz, born in 1975, graduated from Marmara University with a degree in International Relations. With over two decades of experience, she held key roles at Interbank, Ulusalbank A.Ş., Türk Barter A.Ş., and TEB before joining DenizBank in 2010. Currently serving as Executive Vice President of the Financial Institutions and Sustainability Coordination Group, her expertise includes Correspondent Banking, Structured Finance, FI Credit Analysis, and Sustainability coordination at DenizBank.

Divisional Head International and Corporate Banking, ODDO BHF

Florian Witt is the head of ODDO BHF’s International & Corporate Banking and Member of the Group Business ExCo. The business division combines corporate finance, trade and export finance, strategic international clients, correspondent banking business as well as selected capital markets activities. Before joining ODDO BHF, he was a Managing Director at Commerzbank.
Florian is member of the supervisory board of the AKA European Export and Trade Bank, Vice Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce Banking Commission and Board Member of the German-African Business Association.