19th RFIx Receivables Finance International Convention

Regional Head of Products Global Trade & Receivables Finance, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited

Jason Barrass is a trade professional with over 25 years experience in some of the worlds largest banks. He currently runs the product organization in the Middle East for HSBC but has spent five years in Africa with Barclays and ten with JPMorgan in Europe

Global Head Trade and Working Capital Solutions, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking

Mencía Bobo is the Global Head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions at Santander Corporate and Investment Banking. She joined Santander almost 20 years ago. Since then, she has held a variety of roles in areas such as project finance, receivable finance and structured trade. Prior to this, Mencía worked as a senior auditor at KPMG in Spain. She has a degree in Business Administration by Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE) and an Intensive Training course by INSEAD.

Consultant, Point Forward

Point Forward Managing Director Peter Brinsley has worked in finance, credit, underwriting, risk management and international for more than 20 years with and for major global providers. Peter chaired the International Factors Group Education Committee to 2014. He is a BA Honours graduate from University College London, a post-graduate trained Accountant and a qualified teacher. Point Forward was established April 2013. A speaker and panellist in international finance conferences, Peter is also a registered consultant-expert with EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and has given workshops and seminars in Africa, China, Europe and Russia.

CEO, Portal Finance

Diego is the Cofounder and CEO of Portal Finance, where he is leading the charge to restore banking services to Latam’s small and medium enterprises. The focus at Portal Finance has been the creation of a proprietary risk engine that leverages eInvoicing and eTaxReporting to score and monitor risk in SMEs. Portal Finance has secured partnerships with leading financial institutions such as BTG Pactual which has comitted US$200M to fund SMEs using the Portal Finance Platform in Chile, Colombia and Peru.

Managing Director, Casterman Advisory, Chair of Fintech Committee, ITFA

André Casterman is an independent consultant, advising financial institution and fintech clients on data management, trade finance, and capital markets innovations. André spent 20+ years at SWIFT, leading various innovations in the inter-bank payments, corporate treasury, and trade finance markets. During that time, he established an institutional partnership between SWIFT and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and created the first digital trade settlement instrument. André chairs the Fintech Committee of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) with a focus on helping banks take advantage of fintech innovations to automate trade finance operations and establish the business as an investable asset class through use of data analytics and artificial intelligence. André holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from ICHEC Brussels Management School and two Master’s degrees in Computer Sciences and in Management from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

Partner

Simon Cook is a partner in the Emerging Market, Trade and Export Finance Group in the London office of Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP. He has experience in a wide variety of banking and finance transactions, including in particular in relation to structured trade finance, trade finance, supply chain finance, receivables finance, project finance, invoice discounting facilities and borrowing-base facilities in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the CIS. His work in the structured finance area covers a range of pre-export, borrowing base, prepayment, project and receivables financings notably in the oil, telecoms, soft commodities, hydro and metals sectors with particular experience in the Middle East and Africa. Simon has acted for a wide variety of clients including banks, funds, corporate borrowers, sponsors, project companies and government agencies/parastatals across the emerging markets. Simon is regularly included in independent guides to the legal profession. The Chambers & Partners guide to the world’s best lawyers says that Simon “is known for his hands-on approach and huge attention to detail” and he “paints a fair picture of what is possible and what is not”. Simon has worked and travelled extensively in the Middle East and Africa, including spending 4 years based in Dubai.

Partner, Mayer Brown

Alex Dell is the co-head of asset based lending (ABL) and a partner in the Banking & Finance practice of the London office. His practice is particularly focussed on highly structured receivables financing and ABL transactions, often with a cross-border element. Alex is equally experienced advising on mid-market opportunities as well as investment grade corporate structures, both from a lender and borrower perspective. He also has an in-depth knowledge of supply chain finance, transit finance and vendor and title finance. Alex represents banks, financial institutions, sponsors and corporates, and advises on cross-border transactions for some of the world’s largest financial institutions and companies. He is widely-recognised as a leading ABL and receivables finance lawyer in the UK. Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 2015, Alex led the Structured Trade & Receivables Finance team with another leading international law firm.

CEO, Intermarket Bank AG

Sebastian Erich started his corporate banking career in 1990 at CREDITANSTALT in Austria. He worked in sales and risk management in Vienna and CEE before moving to Paris / France in 1998 - running corporate client business for HypoVereinsbank / France. After 2 years in Private Equity he moved back to Austria in 2007 joining Erste Group – as a corporate Banker. For 5 years he was responsible for Large Corporate Client coverage in Austria and CEE. In 2013 Sebastian was appointed as CEO in Intermarket Bank AG – the factoring subsidiary of Erste Group in Austria. Since 2017 Intermarket Bank AG has the overall strategic responsibility for Supply Chain Finance in Erste Group with a strong focus on Large and SME clients all over Erste Groups geography.

Director Overdraft Product and Interim Director Invoice Finance/ABL Product, Natwest

Having built experience across a range of roles in frontline asset based lending and commercial banking across three major UK funders, Charles now oversees the product strategy for three of the core working capital solutions for NatWest and RBS Combining the product strategy for overdraft, invoice finance and asset based lending solutions drives delivery to the customer funding need, alongside the bank focus on capital responsibility. While the customer need to fund working capital gaps hasn’t changed hugely since the first overdraft in 1728, the way in which UK businesses wish to transact and manage their cashflow has transformed exponentially; including a shift away from traditional tangible business models. With the regulatory impact also a key factor, Charles spends his time innovating the customer journey to meet the requirements of customers, shareholders and wider stakeholders both now and in the future.

Chairman, Assifact

In his professional career he worked for 25 years in San Paolo Group (now Intesa San Paolo Group) assuming various managerial responsabilities, then in Banca Popolare di Milano and in Cariverona as Head of Credit and Corporate. From 1999 until 2010 he operated as Senior Manager for Unicredit Group (Head of Large Corporate Division, Head of Credit and Risk Management, C.E.O. of Unicredit Factoring). In the same period he was Board Member of the main Italian Banks of Unicredit Group, Deputy Chairman of Factor Bank – Austria, Deputy Chairman of Unicredit Bulbank- Bulgaria and Supervisory Board Member of Bank Pekao – Poland. From 2010 until 2016 he was Chairman and C.E.O. of. Beta Skye SpA (then Beta Stepstone Spa), a factoring company owned by Fortress Group and merged into Banca Sistema in 2017.

Head of London Branch, Varengold Bank

Alison is head of the London branch of Varengold Bank, a Hamburg headquartered investment bank. She plays a critical role in developing the bank’s marketplace banking business, providing funding to the marketplace and platform lending industry. Before joining Varengold in 2015 she worked in structured finance at Barclays Capital, structuring and executing complex fixed income transactions. Alison began her career as a lawyer with Linklaters, specialising in tax and financial regulation and advising some of the world’s largest financial institutions and asset managers. She holds an LLB in Law with Spanish Law from Nottingham University and is a CAIA Charterholder.

Head of Transaction Risk Management – Europe, Global Trade and Receivables Finance, HSBC

Chris has been in Asset Based Lending for nearly 20 years, having been tempted across from mainstream banking. In this time he has worked for International Factors, The Bank of New York, GE Commercial Finance, ABN Amro, RBS and now HSBC.

His experience covers the independent sector, as well as the large commercial bank offerings. Chris has led field exam and underwriting teams as well as having P&L responsibility leading businesses.

In 2008 he moved across to RBS to develop their ABL proposition. In 2010 he was asked to lead the Corporate Business. with a small selected team moved Asset Based Lending into the mainstream of the bank, growing the business from zero to a portfolio approaching £2 billion in a 4 year period.

In 2015 he moved to HSBC to work in their Global Trade and Receivables Finance business, focussing on structured trade and receivables facilities in the Global and Corporate Bank, as well as developing the ABL product in the Bank.

Managing Director, Equiniti RiskFactor

Aaron has over 28 years’ experience as an invoice finance and asset based lending professional. The majority of his career has been spent in senior risk and operational roles, leading large teams and managing diverse portfolios of clients. A former client, Aaron joined RiskFactor Solutions in September 2012 with a remit to widen its reach. His previous roles have included National Head of Portfolio for GE Capital, Head of Operational Credit for Barclays and National Operations Manager at NAB. Whilst at Barclays, Aaron introduced RiskFactor software into the business and so can offer valuable support from personal experience regarding the implementation process for new clients. Aaron has an impressive track record for delivering innovative solutions to loss mitigation in the commercial finance sector. These solutions have ranged from policy refinements to the harnessing of technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of risk management.

Investment Director, Head of Trade & Supply Chain Finance, CDC Group

Admir Imami is a Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance at CDC Group, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, wholly owned by the UK Government. Heading up CDC’s growing Trade and Supply Chain Finance business, Admir brings a wealth of knowledge gained from over 20 years’ experience in the Trade Finance space. Prior to joining CDC Admir was co-founder and CEO of AGC a global impact investment manager, specializing in SME related receivables, as an asset class, with the aim of driving economic growth and development in emerging markets. Admir is also a mentor at Rise, a Barclays accelerator, in London.

Advisor, Quaterback

Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger has worked in Trade Finance with a special focus on Forfaiting and Factoring for most of her professional life, first with Barclays Bank, and then Midland Bank Aval in London before joining West Merchant Bank where she had Global responsibility for forfaiting and factoring. Margrith joined FIMBank as EVP, responsible for Business Development and was appointed to President in 2004. She retired to become an Advisor to the FIMBank Group and other industry members. In 2014 Margrith was awarded the highest decoration of the Republic of Malta, the National Order of Merit, in recognition of her 'exceptional contribution towards the common good of the Maltese and the development of Malta as a financial centre.' Margrith was educated in Switzerland and was a member of the board of the Swiss Association of Forfaiters in 1983, and also founding Chairman of the Association of Forfaiters in the Americas in 1995. More recently in 1999, Mrs. Lütschg-Emmenegger co-founded the International Forfaiting Association (IFA) were she served as Deputy Chairman until 2003. In 2013 Margrith was elected as Chairman of International Factors Group (IFG). She has also been a regular speaker on the subject of trade finance for many years travelling around the World teaching audiences the benefits of Factoring and Forfaiting.

CEO and Co-Founder, Trade Ledger

Martin McCann is CEO and Co-Founder of Trade Ledger (www.tradeledger.io), the world’s first open digital banking platform that gives banks the ability to assess business lending risk in real time. Martin has over 20 years’ experience as a passionate technologist, business leader, investor, academic researcher, and public speaker specialised in the digitisation of business.

Director, SCHUMANN International

Robert Meters is Director Global Business at SCHUMANN and Director at SCHUMANN International Limited in London. He studied Business Administration and International Management at the University for Economics and Management. He has been in the credit risk management industry since 1993 and has worked for leading information service providers as well as in the telecommunications industry. At SCHUMANN, he advises and takes care of customers in the automation of credit decisions and the implementation of a fully integrated credit management workflow system that also supports onboarding and ESG KYBP processes. SCHUMANN offers the leading credit risk management solution for the financial services sector covering leasing, factoring, banking and trade credit insurance.

Head of Factoring, DNB

Eskil Myrmo has held management positions within DNB the past 20 years and has a strong experience within business development and digitalization. Eskil has been Head of Factoring in DNB for the past 7 years. Prior to Factoring he has held positions as Regional Manager, Head of Business Development and Head of Operations within Retail Banking. Eskil holds an degree in Bachelor of International Business from Oslo Business School, Norway and a degree in Master in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University, USA. For the past 3 years he has been leading the Norwegian Factoring Association within The Association of Norwegian Finance Houses.

CEO, Tinubu Square

After 10 years’ experience in the Audit Department at Arthur Andersen and Renault S.A and Finance Department at Paribas Group, Jérôme joined Euler-Hermes. At the time, Euler only operated as a credit insurer in France and focused on domestic risk. For 10 years Jérôme played a leading role within the Euler-Hermes Group developing both its international risk expertise and its international network. He was closely involved in many of the organization’s international acquisitions and openings. Jérôme held a number of leading management positions including Head of Risk in Sfac, Director Commercial and Strategy of Euler-Sfac, Chief Operating Officer of Euler-Cobac Benelux, Director Risk U/W of Euler Trade Indemnity, Chairman of Euler Risk Asia and Chairman of Group Country Risk Committee. Jérôme left Euler-Hermes in 2001 to found Tinubu Square and lead the company as CEO. As Senior Advisor for Morgan Stanley, during the last decade, Jérôme had been involved in number of M&A or equity restructuring projects, including completed operations, relating to well-established private credit insurers and ECA’s.  Jérôme graduated with a Master’s Degree from both the Stanford Business School and the ESC Reims in France, and graduated with the French Highest Military Academy (IHEDN).  Jérôme serves in the French Military Operational Reserve (Advisor, Chief of Staff Dept.) and as Advisor for International Trade (‘’Conseiller du Commerce Extérieur de la France’’, Member of the ‘’Commission de l’Intelligence Economique’’). 

Group CFO and Chief Investment Officer, Stenn

Chris is a co-founder of Stenn Technologies, a UK-based fintech platform serving SMEs engaged in global trade and those operating in the digital economy. Formerly, Chris was co-head of the Securitised Products Group at Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, and has a background in investment banking and management consulting. He holds a law degree from Oxford University and a Master's degree in International Business.

Managing Director, EMEA Payments and Receivables Head, Citi

Ireti Samuel-Ogbu is Managing Director, EMEA Payments and Receivables Head with Citibank’s Treasury and Trade solutions division. She’s based in London with responsibility for the P&L, Product development and Solutions utilized by Financial institutions, Corporates and Public sector customers. Ireti has been with Citi for 30 years, holding various roles in London, Nigeria and South Africa which span Relationship Management with Global Subsidiaries Group and the Public Sector Banking Team, Corporate Finance and as Transaction Services Head for two of the largest markets in Africa.

Managing Director, CODIX Group

Laurent is Managing Director of CODIX Group, an international commercial finance software provider, editor and integrator of the iMX solution. The technology supports all aspects of corporate/commercial finance, including PO finance, factoring, international/two-factors, reverse, classical, invoice discounting, asset-based lending, supply chain and inventory finance, leasing, as well as sophisticated debt collection capabilities. With a staff of 880+ business and technical experts located in 16 countries, CODIX delivers its iMX solution worldwide to clients of various sizes from SMEs to international groups, and always with a comprehensive suite of services, including system customisation, on-site training and assistance, as well as expert level business recommendations and project management. Laurent’s entire career has been in IT for the financial/SCF industry, first in the business systems analysis space, then projects and products management, evolving into management roles. Laurent has been CODIX Group’s COO since 2010.

Global Head of Lending Solutions, Banking Circle

Mikkel Velin, Global Head of Lending Solutions at Banking Circle, is an expert in alternative financing, having co-founded the peer to peer lending platform, YouLend in 2015. Mikkel is responsible for managing and developing Banking Circle’s new lending solutions, including Banking Circle Lending and Banking Circle Receivables Factoring. Before launching YouLend, Mikkel was a high yield portfolio manager and partner at Rogge Global Partners plc and Allianz Global Investors. He is a qualified attorney-at-law (non-practising) and previously worked at a tier-one law firm in Copenhagen, specialising in Corporate Finance and M&A, including cross border M&A transactions.

COO, PrimaDollar

Guy is currently the COO of PrimaDollar Group, a FinTech provider of Trade Finance with 11 offices across the globe. He has experience working in a diverse range of businesses types and sizes from small enterprises through to the global banking giant HSBC, this experience includes working in a Dotcom and two FinTechs. Guy has undertaken various roles in the Financial Services industry, where he has provided the complete cross section of banking products to thousands of businesses. He has worked with FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and AIM listed companies as well as some of the largest privately owned UK companies and European family offices. He enjoys working with technology and taking on the multiple challenges involved in scaling a business at speed.