Events

2020 Virtual International Convention

Overview
Register
Program
Speakers
FAQ's
Sponsorship
CPDs
Event Materials

Attention Registered Attendees:

The International Convention platform is open 24 x 7 until Monday, December 7. Recordings from live sessions, all recorded in its entirety, are available to view on demand plus other regional and topic stream on demand sessions. You can also continue to connect with attendees and use the video platform for 1-1 meetings until Monday, December 7.

Get MORE. View a Recap of the International Convention Week

Overview

We combined the 2020 North America Annual Meeting + the 30th Annual Conference on International Trade to create the 2020 BAFT Virtual International Convention.

Going virtual means you get more! LIVE SESSIONS. WORKSHOPS. BILATERAL MEETINGS. ON-DEMAND CONTENT. SHOWCASES. NETWORKING. ASK THE EXPERT FORUMS. CPDS. SOCIAL EVENTS. GLOBAL ACCESS. 24/7. GET MORE.

Access the Virtual Platform 24/7 for the entire month of November, not just during the week of the Convention. That means you can already connect with fellow attendees and watch on-demand sessions weeks prior to the official week of the Convention week and after the Convention concludes.

Various Options Available to Connect. Each attendee has a 1:1 video chat capability, message chat and persistent discussion forums.

Small Group Virtual Meeting Rooms with Video Chat for Private Meetings, available 24/7 during the entire month of November. You can schedule your bilateral meetings when it’s most convenient for you.

Global Conference: a diverse group of attendees and speakers from different countries plus session topics representing both regional and global views.

Variety of Session Options to choose from – Live sessions, on-demand sessions, thought leadership workshops, ‘Ask the Expert’ open forums and more.

Virtual Sponsor Booths with 1:1 video chat, 1:small group virtual meeting rooms, messaging capability, video and document uploads, links to websites and other pages.

Option to Bring Your Entire Bank (company) – World-Wide! Yes, not just your team or division, but everyone from your entire bank (company) can attend from various locations across the globe and take advantage of all the Convention offerings for one low rate!

Test Your Connection NOW.

To make sure you have a seamless experience from day 1 of the Convention, check your system below. Any access issues, please contact [email protected].

Program

November 16, 2020
November 17, 2020
November 18, 2020
November 19, 2020
November 20, 2020
On-Demand Sessions
November 16, 2020 - Monday

08:50 ET / 13:50 GMT / 14:50 CET / 17:50 GST / 23:50 SGT

Pre-plenary Musical Show

Sponsored by SongDivision

Join early to interact in this lively musical pre-show to kick off the Convention! And throughout today’s plenary sessions, the crew from SongDivision will engage with attendees and write an original music on the spot to capture key messaging and memorable moments from today’s program.

09:00 ET / 14:00 GMT / 15:00 CET / 18:00 GST / 22:00 SGT

Plenary Day 1 Welcome

Emcee

Jan McInnis, Comedian/Emcee

Welcome Remark

Mark Garfield
BAFT, Chair
Head, Global Financial Institution, Zions Bancorporation

09:04 ET / 14:04 GMT / 15:04 CET / 18:04 GST / 22:04 SGT

BAFT Initiatives Update

Hear from BAFT President and CEO Tod Burwell on the key initiatives BAFT is working on your behalf, our members, and the industry.

Speaker

Tod Burwell
President & CEO
BAFT

09:16 ET / 14:16 GMT / 15:16 CET / 18:16 GST / 22:16 SGT

The Future of Transaction Banking

During this candid conversation with one of the global transaction banking heads, Takis Georgakopoulos, get a glimpse on what might be in store for the transaction banking business - silver linings amidst the pandemic, challenges it faces today and its way forward to ensure the health of the industry.

Featured Speaker

Takis Georgakopoulos
Managing Director & Global Head of Wholesale Payments
JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Host

Tod Burwell
President & CEO
BAFT

09:40 ET / 14:40 GMT / 15:40 CET / 18:40 GST / 22:40 SGT

Responsible Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning in Financial Services

AI is one of the most powerful innovations today with the potential to create new insights from data, drive personalized experiences, anticipate needs and help manage risk. As the financial services industry embraces the power of AI, the industry must ensure it is adopted and used in a responsible way. This panel of AI experts will discuss bias, explain ability and diversity amongst other critical issues related to this technology and explore the path forward for the responsible and effective deployment of AI.

Moderator

Christian Stolcke
Managing Director
Global Head Banks & Head of Corporate and Institutional Clients, Americas
UBS

Panelists

Madhav Goparaju
Managing Director, Global Advisory and Solutions, Global Transaction Services
Bank of America

Matt Fowler
Vice President & Head of Machine Learning, Enterprise Data and Analytics
TD Bank

10:20 ET / 15:20 GMT / 16:20 CET / 19:20 GST / 23:20 SGT

Stretch Break

10:25 ET / 15:25 GMT / 16:25 CET / 19:25 GST / 23:25 SGT

Back To The Future: Cybersecurity/Risk, Challenges in Light of COVID-19

How has COVID-19 changed the global cybersecurity landscape? Are Cyber criminals taking advantage of the situation and if so how? Are attacks increasing and new methods being used? Are previous security measures and trends still valid? What the experts are observing and predicting in light of 2020 elections, work from home and increased cloud-based usage, and what is being done to combat the reported increases and creativity of these attacks. Join us for a dynamic discussion from the viewpoints of a specialized corporate, government agency and a global bank to hear how cyber-criminals are using new and old traps in our “New Normal”.

Moderator/Panelist

Adam Munro
Group Manager, Cyber Financial Intelligence
Standard Chartered Bank

Panelists

Alex Hernandez
Vice President, Emerging Technology
DefenseStorm

Dewald Nolte
Chief Strategy Officer
Entersekt

10:55 ET / 15:55 GMT / 16:55 CET / 19:55 GST / 23:55 SGT

A Look at the Global Economics and Geopolitics of Tomorrow, Today

Moderator

Brett Ryan
Senior US Economist
Deutsche Bank

Panelists

Amy Celico
Principal
Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG)

Peter Hall
Vice President and Chief Economist
Export Development Canada (EDC)

11:30 ET / 16:30 GMT / 17:30 CET / 20:30 GST / 00:30 SGT

A Musical Plenary Recap

Sponsored by SongDivision

Stay to hear an original on the spot song capturing key messaging and memorable moments from today’s program.

Jan McInnis, Comedian/Emcee
with the day’s summary song by SongDivision

11:35 ET / 16:35 GMT / 17:35 CET / 20:35 GST / 00:35 SGT

Consortia Showcase Trade Information Network

The Inclusive Industry Standard Network for Multi-bank Trade Finance
The Trade Information Network, founded by ANZ, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered enables the exchange of trade information between buyers, suppliers and finance providers around the globe.

Speakers

Sudhir Dole
Chief Executive Officer
Trade Information Network

Vicky Soneja
Chief Technology Officer
Trade Information Network

11:35 ET / 16:35 GMT / 17:35 CET / 20:35 GST / 00:35 SGT

Social Activity: Backstage with SongDivision

Meet and greet with today’s songwriter and performer, John Lombardo. Learn more about SongDivision and John’s stories performing with the likes of Nirvana and Smashing Pumkins!

11:35 ET / 16:35 GMT / 17:35 CET / 20:35 GST / 00:35 SGT

Workshop: The BAFT DLPC - What Is It? Where Is It Used?

Every trade transaction ultimately requires a payment commitment. As trade transactions move to the digital world, this Workshop will provide an understanding of the BAFT Distributed Ledger Payment Commitment – the DLPC , its origins, functionality, and how it provides a legal framework and interoperability for payments in digital trade transactions today.

Moderator

Whitman Knapp
Chairman
GTBInsights

Panelists

Rebecca Liao
Co-Founder and COO
Skuchain

Samantha Pelosi
Senior Vice President, Payments & Innovation
BAFT

John Taylor
International Lawyer
Queen Mary University of London

12:05 ET / 17:05 GMT / 18:05 CET / 21:05 GST / 01:05 SGT

Social Activity: Comedy Act

Take a break, relax and have a laugh (or two). Following this comedy act, the floor opens to an open forum. This is your chance to learn some tips or just find out more about what it takes to be a professional comedian.

Featuring

Jan McInnis
Comedian/Emcee

12:30 ET / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET / 21:30 GST / 01:30 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Global Heads of Payments (North America Focus)

A unique session to meet two women who lead the global payments teams within a well respected multinational bank. This is an informal open forum – there are no agendas or pre-set presentation. This is your opportunity to ask these distinguished banking executives questions on payments, the economy, career and other questions that’s been on your mind.

Subject Matter Experts

Beth Geller
Executive Director, Wholesale Payments – Industry Issues
JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Gayathri Vasudev
Managing Director, Global Clearing – Product Management
JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Booshan Rengachari
Founder & CEO
Finzly

Amy Sahm
SVP and Manager, International
Fulton Bank

November 17, 2020 - Tuesday

06:00 ET / 11:00 GMT / 12:00 CET / 15:00 GST / 19:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Global Heads of Trade (Europe Focus)

A unique session to meet global heads of trade from Barclays and BNP Paribas. This is an informal open forum – there are no agendas or pre-set presentation. This is your opportunity to ask these distinguished global trade heads questions on trade, the economy, career and other questions that’s been on your mind.

Subject Matter Experts

James Binns
Global Head of Trade and Working Capital
Barclays

Jean Francois Denis
Global Head, Trade Solutions
BNP Paribas

07:00 ET / 12:00 GMT / 13:00 CET / 16:00 GST / 20:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Global Heads of Payments (Europe Focus)

A unique session to meet global payments executives within a well respected multinational bank. This is an informal open forum – there are no agendas or pre-set presentation. This is your opportunity to ask these distinguished banking executives questions on payments, the economy, career and other questions that’s been on your mind.

Subject Matter Experts

Maarten Lossie
Director, Head of FIG Payments
Barclays

Anand Sampath
Executive Director, Head – Payables & Receivables
Global Cash Product Mgmt, GTB
First Abu Dhabi Bank

Maarten Van Rossum
Global FIG Origination
Barclays

Stephen Wojciechowicz, AAP, CTP
Product Manager, Treasury Services
BNY Mellon

08:00 ET / 13:00 GMT / 14:00 CET / 17:00 GST / 21:00 SGT

Workshop: Career in Trade

Hear first-hand from Michael Vrontamitis, a seasoned and well-respected global trade head on his career journey and experience navigating the complex yet fulfilling world of trade! He will be joined by Caryn Pace, a BAFT Future Leader alumni and Council Co-chair. Currently in different stages of their careers, both will be able to share two different career perspectives. This is an excellent opportunity to ask questions from these two trade experts.

Speakers

Caryn Pace Messenger
Head of Portfolio Management and Product Risk
Bank of America

Michael Vrontamitis
Co-chair, ICC Working Group on the Digitization of Trade Finance
ICC Commission

09:00 ET / 14:00 GMT / 15:00 CET / 18:00 GST / 22:00 SGT

Plenary Day 2 Welcome

09:05 ET / 14:05 GMT / 15:05 CET / 18:05 GST / 22:05 SGT

Global Trade Finance: Responding to a Changing Landscape

Emcee
Jan McInnis, Comedian/Emcee

Hear from senior trade finance leaders from across the globe; this session will profile their current challenges and responses to the shifts in the regulatory environment, trade digitisation, global supply chains and reference rates, as well as highlight pressing areas of focus for 2021. Where relevant, speakers will touch on the complexities of the trends playing out within each of their regions of focus.

Moderator

Shannon Manders
Editorial Director
Global Trade Review (GTR)

Panelists

Raphael Barisaac
Global Head of Cash Management & Global Co-Head of Trade
UniCredit

Vinod Madhavan
Group Head, Trade
Standard Bank

Ebru Pakcan
Managing Director & Global Head of Trade
Treasury and Trade Solutions Institutional Clients Group
Citi

9:45 ET / 14:45 GMT / 15:45 CET / 18:45 GST / 22:45 SGT

Keeping Business Flowing During the Pandemic

The Secondary Market for trade transactions enables banks to de-risk loans and free up capital. Strategies around managing capital relief and political uncertainty can minimize volatility and enables diversification in trade portfolios. Join our panel of experts to hear the legal, industry and credit portfolio impact of Basel and benefits of mitigating political risks to keep business flowing even during the pandemic.

Moderator

Gayle Roenbaugh
Senior Regional Manager
Export Development Canada (EDC)

Panelists

Jennifer Bearden
Associate Director
International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers (IACPM)

Carol Hitselberger
Partner & Co-Leader, Banking and Finance Practice
Mayer Brown

Joshua Stein
Vice President, Accounting and Financial Management
American Bankers Association

10:25 ET / 15:25 GMT / 16:25 CET / 19:25 GST / 23:25 SGT

Stretch Break

10:35 ET / 15:25 GMT / 16:35 CET / 19:35 GST / 23:35 SGT

Optimizing the “E” in Trade

There is little dispute among the Trade industry about the critical need to “electronify” or digitize the trade product suite that still relies far too heavily on manual processing. Nevertheless, the industry has not moved meaningfully in that direction to date. We will focus on the benefits as well as the challenges of increased digitization facing the industry in their efforts to make material progress with digitization of trade products

Moderator

Michael McDonough
Regional Head of Product Management, Trade Finance, North America
Transaction Banking
MUFG Union Bank

Panelists

Merlin Dowse
Executive Director, Global Trade Finance Product Management
J.P. Morgan

Robin Findlay
Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing
Surecomp

John Murray
Vice President & Head of Client Services and Implementation, Global Trade Finance and Credit Services
BNY Mellon

11:15 ET / 16:15 GMT / 17:15 GMT / 20:15 GST / 00:15 SGT

Consortia Showcase featuring Komgo

Powering Trade Networks - how is Komgo delivering trust and efficiency for the industry? For years the trade finance industry has been slow to change. The Covid pandemic has accentuated weaknesses in the system. Over-reliance on paper and physical processes does not work well with an increasingly remote workforce and different, incompatible data systems. Modernization, and the resulting efficiency, security and workflow optimization gains, are especially important in light of shrinking margins and increased security risk. Join us to learn how Komgo, one of very few digital trade platforms that is actively used by large financial institutions and corporate clients, is building a network of trust that will change the way the world trades.

Speakers

Kris Van Broekhoven
Chief Financial Officer
Komgo

11:15 ET / 16:15 GMT / 17:15 GMT / 20:15 GST / 00:15 SGT

Consortia Showcase featuring Komgo

Powering Trade Networks - how is Komgo delivering trust and efficiency for the industry? For years the trade finance industry has been slow to change. The Covid pandemic has accentuated weaknesses in the system. Over-reliance on paper and physical processes does not work well with an increasingly remote workforce and different, incompatible data systems. Modernization, and the resulting efficiency, security and workflow optimization gains, are especially important in light of shrinking margins and increased security risk. Join us to learn how Komgo, one of very few digital trade platforms that is actively used by large financial institutions and corporate clients, is building a network of trust that will change the way the world trades.

Speakers

Kris Van Broekhoven
Chief Financial Officer
Komgo

11:20 ET / 16:20 GMT / 17:20 GMT / 20:20 GST / 00:20 SGT

Workshop: Preparing Your Institution for Major Industry Changes

Over the next three to five years, the banking community will contend with several major industry changes. Join StoneX Technology Services for a session on which changes are coming and what you need to know to prepare. We will cover topics including new regulatory requirements, how to protect your company against the growing risk of cyber-attacks, and how to not only survive—but thrive—during a pandemic.

Speakers

David Unsdorfer
Senior Vice-President, Technology Services, EMEA & APAC
StoneX Technology Services

Tom Scarpulla
Senior Vice President, Technology Services, Americas
StoneX Technology Services
Brought to you by StoneX

12:00 ET / 17:00 GMT / 18:00 CET / 21:00 GST / 01:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Letters of Credit

An open and informal forum to meet and also ask experts about letters of credit related questions.

Subject Matter Experts

Normand Girard
Director, Global Trade Services
BMO Financial Group

Kristine Siebel
Vice President, Trade Commodity Finance Operations
Societe Generale

12:00 ET / 17:00 GMT / 18:00 CET / 21:00 GST / 01:00 SGT

Workshop: Digital Innovation: Removing Cross Boarder Challenges in B2B Payment

Join TransferMate as we discuss key opportunities and challenges in the banking sector across fintech, digital banking, payments and banking environment and what the future for banking looks like. Hear how banks are being fundamentally challenged to keep up in today’s increasingly digitally-focused market, and how the drive to provide new reimagined products and insight-driven experiences will only accelerate. Key insights into how fintech can be utilized to sustain banking and business with demonstrations of live market examples.

Speakers

Brendan Coughlan
Treasury Analytics Manager

John Soukup
Senior Enterprise Sales Executive
Transfermate

Booshan Rengachari
Founder & CEO
Finzly

Amy Sahm
SVP and Manager, International
Fulton Bank

November 18, 2020 - Wednesday

08:00 ET / 13:00 GMT / 14:00 CET / 17:00 GST / 21:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Global Heads of Trade (Europe & Africa Focus)

A unique session to meet global heads of trade from Commerzbank, Societe Generale and Standard Bank of South Africa. This is an informal open forum – there are no agendas or pre-set presentation. This is your opportunity to ask these distinguished global trade heads questions on trade, the economy, career and other questions that’s been on your mind.

Subject Matter Experts

Marie-Laure Gastellu
Global Head of Trade
Societe Generale

Vinod Madhavan
Group Head, Trade
Standard Bank

Enno-Burghard Weitzel
Head of Product Management Trade Services
Commerzbank

09:00 ET / 14:00 GMT / 15:00 CET / 18:00 GST / 22:00 SGT

Plenary Day 3 Welcome

Emcee

Jan McInnis, Comedian Emcee

09:05 ET / 14:05 GMT / 15:05 CET / 18:05 GST / 22:05 SGT

Catalyst and Accelerators of Change Due to the Pandemic

Join us for a dynamic conversation with two of our management board leaders who will share how their organizations navigated the COVID crises, key lessons learned during this dynamic time and even more importantly, what challenges and opportunities they see going forward.

Speakers

Anne Clarke Wolff
Chairman, Global Corporate and Investment Banking
Bank of America Securities

Gerald Walker
CEO, Americas
ING

09:26 ET / 14:26 GMT / 15:26 CET / 18:26 GST / 22:26 SGT

The Future of Faster Payments

Domestic RTR's are table stakes in all modernization projects of which a handful are live, many others in development or planning phases, and the rest have not even started. The natural evolution of RTR's is in the cross-border payment space, which will have revolutionary effects on everyone from consumers to multi-national corporates. How will faster payments change the landscape globally? What would we need to do to get there? This panel will pave a path for the future of faster payments.

Moderator

Kenneth Wong
Head, Global Transaction Banking Product Strategy and Innovation
TD Bank

Panelists

Andrew Boyajian
Executive Director, Emerging Payments
J.P. Morgan

Carsten Hills
Global Head, Payments Division
StoneX Group

David Scola
Chief Executive, Americas and UK
SWIFT

10:10 ET / 15:10 GMT / 16:10 CET / 19:10 GST / 23:10 SGT

Stretch Break

10:20 ET / 15:20 GMT / 16:20 CET / 19:20 GST / 23:20 SGT

Impact Financing

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) has increasingly become a more integral part of banking. Banks are increasingly augmenting what not to do, to what to do in the ESG space. Banks are increasingly striving for intentional development impact. Can this be expanded into the trade space? What is required to create an intentional impact framework for trade related assets?

Moderator

Ana Carolina Oliveira
Head of Sustainable Finance, Americas
ING

Panelists

Marco DeBenedictis
Head of Sustainable Finance
Barclays

Neil Gregory
Chief Thought Leadership Officer
International Finance Corporation (IFC)

11:00 ET / 16:00 GMT / 17:00 CET / 20:00 GST / 00:00 SGT

Economic Impact of US Elections

Speaker

David Woo
Head of Global Rates, FX and EM Fixed Income Strategy & Economics Research
Bank of America Securities

Host

Ozgur Akdeniz
North American Trade Sales Hea
Citi

11:30 ET / 16:30 GMT / 17:30 CET / 20:30 GST / 00:30 SGT

Plenary Day 3 Wrap-Up

Emcee

Jan McInnis, Comedian/Emcee

11:35 ET / 16:35 GMT / 17:35 CET / 20:35 GST / 00:35 SGT

Workshop: Preparing You For Success

There’s no better time than now to invest in yourself! Whether you are starting a new career in transaction banking or you are a more seasoned professional, you can continue to strengthen your credentials to move ahead in the industry. This workshop will cover the new certification programs - the Certificate in Introductory Transaction Banking and the Certificate in Transaction Risk for Trade Professionals; plus a global executive program and other educational offerings you can take advantage of as BAFT members. As an added bonus, live participants will be entered to win a FREE registration to a BAFT Certificate of their choice.

Speakers

Shawn Haynes
Vice President, Operations
BAFT

Craig Weeks
Independent Consultant
Plain Vanilla LLC

11:35 ET / 16:35 GMT / 17:35 CET / 20:35 GST / 00:35 SGT

Consortia Showcase #3

12:00 ET / 17:00 GMT / 18:00 CET / 21:00 GST / 01:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Global Heads of Trade (North America Focus)

A unique session to meet global heads of trade from JP Morgan and BNY Mellon. This is an informal open forum – there are no agendas or pre-set presentation. This is your opportunity to ask these distinguished global trade heads questions on trade, the economy, career and other questions that’s been on your mind

Subject Matter Experts

Natasha Condon
Managing Director & Global Head, Core Trade
J.P. Morgan

Joon Kim
Global Head, Trade Finance Product and Portfolio Management
BNY Mellon

20:30 ET/November 19 at 01:30 GMT/02:30 CET/05:30 GST/09:30 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Global Heads of Payments (Asia Focus)

A unique session featuring seasoned payments experts from Standard Chartered Bank, ANZ and BNY Mellon. This is an informal open forum – there are no agendas or pre-set presentation. This is your opportunity to ask these distinguished banking executives questions on payments, treasury management, the economy, career and other questions that’s been on your mind.

Subject Matter Experts

Luke Perkins
Executive Director, Head of Global Cross Border Payments
ANZ

Shirish Wadivkar
Managing Director, Global Head – Correspondent Banking Products
Standard Chartered Bank

Booshan Rengachari
Founder & CEO
Finzly

Amy Sahm
SVP and Manager, International
Fulton Bank

November 19, 2020 - Thursday

15:00 - 17:00 SGT

Plenary Sessions: Asia

We will be offering a select number of live sessions in a more friendly time zone to our attendees in Asia.

02:00 ET / 07:00 GMT / 8:00 CET / 11:00 GST / 15:00 SGT

Welcome

02:05 ET / 09:05 GMT / 10:05 CET / 13:05 GST / 17:05 SGT

The Future of Transaction Banking

During this candid conversation with one of the global transaction banking heads, Takis Georgakopoulos, get a glimpse on what might be in store for the transaction banking business - silver linings amidst the pandemic, challenges it faces today and its way forward to ensure the health of the industry

Emcee

Eavie Burnett, Content Manager, TXF

Featured Speaker

Takis Georgakopoulos
Head of Wholesale Payments
JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Host

Tod Burwell
President & CEO
BAFT

02:30 ET / 09:30 GMT / 10:30 CET / 13:30 GST / 17:30 SGT

The State of FInTech

Featured Speaker

Jame DiBlasio
Founder and Editor
DigFin

Host

Steve Nichols
Asia Representative
BAFT

02:55 ET / 09:55 GMT / 10:55 CET / 13:55 GST / 17:55 SGT

Joining Forces for Trade Digitalization

The trade eco system is awash with new platforms and value added services. But we are still yet to see scale. Increasingly the dialogue has shifted to interoperability as the key enabler. But what does interoperability actually mean? And how might we get there?

Speakers

Oswald Kuyler
Managing Director DSI
International Chamber of Commerce

Louise Taylor-Digby
Head of Trade Strategy
SWIFT

03:20 ET / 10:20 GMT / 11:20 CET / 14:20 GST / 18:20 SGT

Impact Financing

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) has increasingly become a more integral part of banking. Banks are increasingly augmenting what not to do, to what to do in the ESG space. Banks are increasingly striving for intentional development impact. Can this be expanded into the trade space? What is required to create an intentional impact framework for trade related assets?

Moderator

Ana Carolina Oliveira
Head of Sustainability for the Americas
ING

Panelists

Marco DeBenedictis
Head of Sustainable Finance
Barclays

Neil Gregory
Chief Thought Leadership Officer
IFC

04:00 ET / 09:00 GMT / 10:00 CET / 13:00 GST / 17:00 SGT

Wrap Up

Emcee

Eavie Burnett, Content Manager, TXF

04:00 ET / 09:00 GMT / 10:00 CET / 13:00 GST / 17:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Global Heads of Trade (Women in Trade Focus)

A unique session to meet two female global heads of trade from Lloyds Bank and Banco Santander. This is an informal open forum – there are no agendas or pre-set presentation. This is your opportunity to ask these distinguished global trade heads questions on trade, the economy, career and other questions that’s been on your mind.

Subject Matter Experts

Mencia Bobo
Global Head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions
Banco Santander

Gwynne Master
Managing Director & Head of Trade
Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking

08:00 ET / 13:00 GMT / 14:00 CET / 17:00 GST / 21:00 SGT

Workshop: Leveraging Data and Analytics to Address Financial Crime in Trade Finance

Regulators are increasing their focus on trade based financial crime while most risk controls are remain manual operations because of the paper-based nature of trade. Hear from institutions that are digitizing and using advanced analytics to manage Anti Money Laundering, Fraud prevention, Sanctions enforcement, and Military and Dual Use Goods risks more effectively and efficiently.

Moderator

Jake Jacobson
Partner
Ernst & Young

Panelists

Graham P Finding
Global Head of Business Financial Crime Risk, Global Trade & Receivables Finance
HSBC

Ed Stoltenberg
Director, AML Risk Management, Treasury and Trade Solutions
Citi

09:00 ET / 14:00 GMT / 15:00 CET / 18:00 GST / 22:00 SGT

Plenary Day 4 Welcome

Emcee

Jan McInnis, Comedian/Emcee

09:05 ET / 14:05 GMT / 15:05 CET / 18:05 GST / 22:05 SGT

The Evolution of Supply Chain Finance Post COVID-19

Join us for a view from the front lines – a closer look at the physical and financial supply chains. You’ll hear various perspectives from a client, a banker, to a logistics provider. Each will share immediate impact and lessons learned as well as potential long term implications and expectations – How have the physical and financial supply chains been affected by an important change in course - from globalization to localization? What are some of the tools available to address the new challenges?

Moderator

Alexander R. Malaket, CITP, CTFP, GTP-E
President
OPUS Advisory Services International Inc.

Panelists

David Cooperman
Managing Director & Global Head of Trade Strategic Initiatives and New Business Development
Citi

Mike Parra
CEO, Americas
DHL Express

Martin Schlageter
Head of Treasury Operations
Roche

09:45 ET / 14:45 GMT / 15:45 CET / 18:45 GST / 22:45 SGT

EXIM, SBA & DFC Program Updates

As the credit environment continues to adjust to the effects of COVID-19, many lenders are looking for creative solutions to help meet the needs of their clients. The Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and Small Business Administration (SBA), and the newly formed Development Finance Corporation (DFC) have been adjusting their programs in order to better meet the needs of manufacturers and exporters. Senior representatives from EXIM, SBA, and DFC will present an overview on their programs and how they have been updated to the current environment.

Moderator

Daniel Pische
Senior Vice President, Trade Finance
First American Bank

Panelists

David Sena
Senior Vice President, Office of Board Authorized Finance (OBAF)
Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM)

Alale Allal
Regional Trade Finance Manager – Office of International Trade
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

David Vidal
Managing Director
Development Finance Corporation

10:25 ET / 15:25 GMT / 16:25 CET / 19:25 GST / 23:25 SGT

Stretch Break

10:35 ET / 15:35 GMT / 16:35 CET / 19:35 GST / 23:35 SGT

Trade Technology: Today’s Focuses, Tomorrow’s Promises

The development and deployment of innovative technologies in banking has given rise to new digitization efforts, corporate and bank consortia, solutions for compliance, and promises of more efficient processing in trade. Nevertheless, implementation of these new technologies and the resulting impact have been inconsistent. With this backdrop, CGI and BAFT conducted a survey of BAFT members in the summer of 2020 to obtain market intelligence on the current opportunities and challenges provided by these new technologies. This session will discuss the results of the survey and provide insight on the current state of technological advancement in trade.

Moderator

Patrick DeVilbiss
Product Manager
CGI

Speakers

Normand D’Arcy
Senior Advisor, Supply Chain Financing Solutions
National Bank of Canada

Stacey Facter
Senior Vice President, Trade Products
BAFT

Marc Smith
Founder & CEO
Conpend

11:15 ET / 16:15 GMT / 17:15 GMT / 20:15 GST / 00:15 SGT

Consortia Showcase featuring Contour

How Contour is Transforming the Trade Finance Journey through Collaboration and Interoperability Founded by the world's leading trade banks, Contour is on a mission to transform global trade by digitising Letters of Credit, one of the most important trade finance instruments that still relies heavily on paper. Using the power of decentralised technology, watch how Contour’s network uses collaboration and interoperability to bring together the world’s banks, corporates and ecosystem partners, onto a common, digital and trusted network, in real time.

Presenter

Joshua Kroeker
Chief Product Officer
Contour

12:00 ET / 17:00 GMT / 18:00 CET / 21:00 GST / 01:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: Letters of Credit

An open and informal forum to meet and also ask experts about letters of credit related questions.

Subject Matter Experts

Normand Girard
Director, Global Trade Services, BMO Financial Group

Kristine Siebel
Vice President, Trade Commodity Finance Operations
Societe Generale

12:30 ET / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET / 21:30 GST / 01:30 SGT

Workshop: New Technologies for Real-Time Global Payment

A discussion of real-time payment networks, the use cases where real-time payments bring value, and the technological approach to capitalizing on the drive for faster payments.

Speakers

Brian Anderson
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Finzly

Steve Marshall
Chief Commercial Officer
Crown Agents Bank

Booshan Rengachari
Founder & CEO
Finzly

Amy Sahm
SVP and Manager, International
Fulton Bank

November 20, 2020 - Friday

08:00 ET / 13:00 GMT / 14:00 CET / 17:00 GST / 21:00 SGT

Workshop: IBOR Transition - SOFR and Trade Finance Priorities

In 2019, global trade flows totaled US$18.1 trillion – of that activity, 53.9% comprised bank-intermediated trade, and 42% was transacted in USD. USD LIBOR is a widely-used benchmark across the trade finance industry globally. As we anticipate the transition away from LIBOR, much is being discussed about the need for a forward-looking rate, transparency and consistency. What are the concerns across the diverse trade finance products, from L/C discounting to SCF to ECA loans? Hear from members of the BAFT IBOR Transition Working Group, colleagues who have been studying the issues and possibilities, in this highly topical and informative panel.

Moderator

Diana Rodriquez
Vice President, International Policy
BAFT

Panelist

Doug Laurie
Libor Transition Lead, Wholesale Lending Corporate Bank & PBOS
Barclays

Priyamvada Singh
Managing Director & Regional Head, Product, Propositions & Structuring, Global Trade and Receivables Finance
HSBC Bank USA

08:00 ET / 13:00 GMT / 14:00 CET / 17:00 GST / 21:00 SGT

Social Activity: Photography Art Show

Jochen Cerny, active Europe Council member and Managing Director at Commerzbank, will showcase several of his photographic art work, using a special CMPB-technique which he developed. His work has been on exhibit in several cities around the globe, including New York, London, and Hong Kong. Learn more about this special digital technique and how he was able to transform his passion to become an award winning artist.

Artist

Jochen Cerny
Managing Director
Commerzbank

Host

Bart Timmermans
Head Global Transactional Banking
Santander UK

09:00 ET / 14:00 GMT / 15:00 CET / 18:00 GST / 22:00 SGT

Plenary Day 5 Welcome

Emcee

Jan McInnis, Comedian/Emcee

09:05 ET / 14:05 GMT / 15:05 CET / 18:05 GST / 22:05 SGT

What’s at Stake For Banks – Post-2020 Elections

What does a change in the administration mean to the governance of the banking industry? What are the critical banking issues that will be of immediate interest and/or concern to our industry body? The session will focus on potential issues and banking developments that may be accelerated or changed during the next administration. From tax reform, to AML reform, and regulatory supervision, a session from the ABA as to what may be in store for our industry in 2021.

Speaker

Naomi Camper
Chief Policy Officer
American Bankers Association

Host

Mark Garfield
Chair, BAFT
Head, Global Financial Institution, Zions Bancorporation

09:30 ET / 14:30 GMT / 15:30 CET / 18:30 GST / 22:30 SGT

A Focus on Commodities Finance

We take a broad look at the commodity finance sector, assessing the impact that the Coronavirus crisis has had on the market.

  • Which commodities are faring best at the moment?
  • Will technology finally advance, or will it take a backseat?
  • What is the view on capital investments?
  • What has been the impact on pricing in the mining sector? Will it come under pressure or will it weather the storm?
  • What will be the impact on risk allocation and how will this affect bankers and corporate treasurers?
  • Has coronavirus been the catalyst of change in the market, or did it simply reveal existing pressures?

Moderator

Rhona O’Connell
Head of Market Analysis EMEA & Asia
StoneX Group

Panelists

Christine Dirringer
Managing Director & Head of Commodity Structured Debt, North America
BNP Paribas

Alexander Peters, MBL HSG, MBA
Group Chief Financial Officer
Arrow Resources AG

10:10 ET / 15:10 GMT / 16:10 CET / 19:10 GST / 23:10 SGT

Stretch Break

10:20 ET / 15:20 GMT / 16:20 CET / 19:20 GST / 23:20 SGT

Road to Recovery: Career Progression and Cultivating Diversity During and Beyond COVID

What will the Next Normal look like for companies and their employees? How have business leaders reset the norms for recruiting, networking, day-to-day interactions internally and business development with customers? Were the past 9 months a unique moment in time, or the catalyst of broader changes still to come? Hear from a well-connected Executive Search & Advisory firm owner, a CEO and enlightened bankers on how they have adapted, and what parts of their playbook they are re-writing.

Moderator

Nicole Meyer
Founder & Managing Partner
The Meyer Partnership

Panelists

Nicole Verkindt
CEO, OMX
Director, Sustainalytics

Patricia Gomes
Executive Vice President & Regional Head, North America
Global Trade and Receivables Finance
HSBC

Ralph Jardine
Head of Inclusion and Culture
HSBC USA

11:00 ET / 16:00 GMT / 17:00 GMT / 20:00 GST / 00:00 SGT

The Hype is (Almost) Over: Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Are Here to Stay

Given the technology and organizational feedback loops involved, laggards will have a hard time catching up with those who now lean into applying AI and ML to their Big Data. A discussion on the challenges and opportunities associated with leveraging these new technologies to better serve customers and run our businesses more effectively.

Host

Tarik Muzaffar
Managing Director & Global Head Financial Institutions
Global Transaction Banking
TD Bank

Speakers

Lisa Frazier
Chief Innovation Officer
Wells Fargo

Marc Singer
Senior Partner, San Francisco & Leader, McKinsey Digital Practice
McKinsey & Company

11:25 ET / 16:25 GMT / 17:25 GMT / 20:25 GST / 00:25 SGT

Plenary Day 5 Wrap-Up

Emcee

Jan McInnis, Comedian

Closing Remarks

Tod Burwell
President & CEO
BAFT

Virtual Happy Half Hour Closing Celebration

Stay for the much-awaited closing celebration, SongDivison’s Virtual Happy Half Hour, an award-winning musical variety show of rock & roll trivia and interactive songwriting, hosted by musicians who’ve worked with everyone from Cher to Queen.

Performers: Angus Clark, Jodi Katz, MiG Ayesa from SongDivision

Sponsored by SongDivision

12:15 ET / 17:15 GMT / 18:15 GMT / 21:15 GST / 01:15 SGT

Backstage with SongDivision

Meet and greet post-conference celebration with some of the SongDivision performers. Learn more about SongDivision and their experiences with notable singers including David Bowie and Adele.

12:00 ET / 17:00 GMT / 18:00 GMT / 21:00 GST / 01:00 SGT

Ask the Expert Forum: IBOR

Missed the IBOR workshop? Have more questions? This open and informal forum gives you another opportunity to get your questions answered about the IBOR transition from our experts.

Subject Matter Experts

Matt Ayearst
Independent Consultant

Asyera Theng
Vice President, Supply Chain Finance Structuring
MUFG

On-Demand Sessions

Special sessions have been pre-recorded for attendees to access anytime. Live sessions will be added to the on-demand library for those who missed the session or want to re-watch it 24/7.

Regional Stream

MENA: One-on-One with Facebook

Facebook has been very busy in the past few months with increased user activity, updating as well as informing the public about COVID and combatting misinformation in parallel. It is also working on launching new initiatives of its own. Social media has been a refuge to many across the world during the lockdown. This special discussion will cover the behavioral trends, general popular sentiment, opportunities for growth and where Facebook expects to make its mark post-pandemic. And since the platform is actually ripe for a large number of services including financial, the pertinent question would be whether Facebook envisions a deeper collaboration with banks on initiatives going forward.

Featured Speaker

Ramez Shehadi
Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa
Facebook

Host

Eric Modave
Chief Operating Officer
Arab Bank

MENA: Hospitality Industry Outlook

This panel covers how the hospitality industry, specifically the Travel and Tourism industries, have been impacted and the silver lining (there’s always one or more) seen while navigating through and hopefully emerging soon from the pandemic. It also casts light on the relationship between tourism and the travel industry, plus lodging, restaurants and other industries within the hospitality industry umbrella, as a whole will have post-COVID. Will these individual industries collaborate like never before or will they individually go about their recovery separately and at some point cross paths in an effort to rebuild and recuperate. Our esteemed panel will provide insights on how they see this unfold.

Moderator

Chavan Bhogaita
Managing Director & Head of Market Insights and Strategy
First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)

Panelists

Adel Al Redha
Chief Operating Officer
Emirates Airlines

Issam Kazim
CEO
Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing

Mike Premo
President & CEO
Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC)

MENA: One-on-One with Microsoft

There is no doubt that digitalization and technology have been at the pinnacle of growth opportunities globally. The pandemic reinforced the critical importance of technology in everyone’s life. With education relying on online tutorials, virtual meetings on the rise and working from home the saving grace in continuing company and institutional services, this session covers Microsoft’s views on how it sees this continue to evolve into the future. We will learn how Microsoft is working on positioning itself amidst all of this, including its future vision for the industry and the different initiatives it is working on with the different governments within MENA.

Featured Speaker

Salwa Smaoui
Government Industry Leader, Middle East & Africa
Microsoft

Host

Mohamad Zarakat
Director & EMEA Digital Leader
BNY Mellon

Latin America: Round Table on Current Industry Trends Post COVID-19

Our panel of Latin America experts will share a comprehensive review of the region in the corporate and financial Institution sectors. The region’s interdependencies on US trade finance and supply chain flows will be discussed relative to the market effects of COVID-19. The importance of a functioning Credit Risk Insurance market will be highlighted, as well as how lenders are looking for alternative risk mitigation solutions, including ECA and Multilateral programs. Senior regional representatives from Bank of America, Bci, FCIA and First American Bank will present an overview of their market observations, insights and outlook as to the current business and credit environment.

Moderator

John Rodriguez
Managing Director – Trade Finance, Risk Mitigation and Portfolio Management Advisory, Latin America
EIA Global

Panelists

Luiz C. Couto
Managing Director – Global Transactions Services and Trade, Latin America and Caribbean
Bank of America

Stephen Mooney
Senior Vice President – Trade Credit Risk, Structured Trade and Political Risk Product
FCIA Management Company, Inc.

Daniel Pische
Senior Vice President – Trade Finance, US Middle Market Exports
First American Bank

Juan Segundo
Head of Corporate Banking
Banco de Credito e Inversiones S.A. – Miami Branch

Asia: Spotlight on Regulatory Changes in Banking

During this session, get up to date on the most significant regulatory changes impacting banking, especially capital markets in Asia.

Speaker

Manesh Samtani
Editor
Regulation Asia

Host

Jonathan Bell
Editor in Chief
TXF

Trade Stream

A Game of Balance: The Global Supply Chain Finance Forum

Global Supply Chain Finance Forum (GSCFF)’s Chair, Christian Hausherr discusses with Katharine Morton, Haed of Trade Treasury & Risk at TXF the clarifications, guidance and vision that GSCFF is using to help support the use of SCF products amid the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

Featured Speaker

Christian Hausherr
Chairman, Global Supply Chain Finance Forum
Product Manager Trade Finance/Supply Chain Finance EMEA
Deutsche Bank

Host

Katharine Morton
Head of Trade, Treasury and Risk
TXF

Talking Heads of Trade: BNP Paribas on the 'Now' and 'Next'

Trade Finance Global’s Editor Deepesh Patel hears from Jean-François Denis, Global Head, Trade Solutions, BNP Paribas, about how the bank has changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the bank is adapting to the changing landscape for trade finance. What do the challenging events of 2020 mean for the future of trade finance at BNP Paribas?

Featured Speakers

Jean Francois Denis
Global Head, Trade Solutions
BNP Paribas

Host

Deepesh Patel
Editorial Director
Trade Finance Global

Payments Stream

Payments on the Cloud: Leveraging Efficiencies

Banks are building their modernization strategy around the movement of their payments services to the cloud, which offers the benefits of scalability, agility, and cost containment under the ‘pay as you use’ model. This open discussion features a variety of industry experts as they discuss frequently asked questions around the efficiencies of moving payments to the cloud and the various methods/strategies for achieving cloud migration.

Moderator

Samantha Pelosi
Senior Vice President, Payments and Innovation
BAFT

Panelists

David Fisher
Vice President, IT Treasury and Reporting Leader
Synchrony Financial

Scott Johnson
Vice President & Head of Product
Western Union Business Solutions

Ian Philips
Vice President, Business Development & Lead, DRYiCE
HCL Technologies

2020 Future Leaders Class Presentation: Faster Payments Systems

Presenters

Carla Dodds, Banco Santander
Tania Markovic, Royal Bank of Canada
Andrew Hale, ANZ Bank
Harro Prins, ING
Suzan Al (Imam) Husseini, Arab Bank
Alexander Rakhmanin, Societe Generale
Joel Lim, Bank of America
Venkata Javaji, Visa

2020 Future Leaders Class Presentation: Impacts of SWIFTgpi to international Payment Entities

Carla Dodds, Banco Santander
Alfred Lam, Shanghai Commercial Bank
Lee Phahladira, Rand Merchant Bank
Lewis Heptonstall, Wells Fargo
Niels Brand van Duinen, StoneX
Alexander Rakhmanin, Societe Generale
Fadel Elassa , Standard Chartered
Harsh Shah, Deloitte

Transaction Banking Stream

2020 Future Leaders Class Presentation: IBOR Transition and the Impact on Transaction Banking

Presenters

Adrian Hofer, Credit Suisse
Akshat Tiwari, MUFG Bank
Caitlin Blasi, CoBank
David Hehlen, UBS Switzerland
Hebe Wildi, Lloyds Banking Group
Maria Galvez, BBVA
Terence Tan, BNY Mellon
Yasminie Ramos, Barclays

2020 Future Leaders Class Presentation: Sustainable Finance in Transaction Banking: Can Green Be Profitable?

Presenters

Brian Goldwasser, Commerzbank
Huy N Tran, BNP Paribas
Hoor Yar, Deutsche Bank
Kamna Krishnan, Bank of Montreal (BMO)
Luis Quilico, UniCredit
Michael Walker, Finastra
Tarun Khosla, Citibank

Banks are building their modernization strategy around the movement of their payments services to the cloud, which offers the benefits of scalability, agility, and cost containment under the ‘pay as you use’ model. This open discussion features a variety of industry experts as they discuss frequently asked questions around the efficiencies of moving payments to the cloud and the various methods/strategies for achieving cloud migration.

Africa: Looking Ahead: Africa in 2021?

Following on from the World Bank/IMF Autumn Meetings, we now have a much clearer picture of Africa’s economic outlook for 2021. This briefing focuses on Africa’s imminent future, including:
What does economic recovery look like for Africa? Which countries will do well coming out of the crisis?
Will the expected extension of debt relief for African countries be enough? Which countries will feel the majority of the shock?
Where are we most likely to see defaults, and how will these pan out?

Presenter

Dr Robert Besseling
Executive Director
EXX Africa

Register

Registration for this event is closed.

Speakers

November 16, 2020
November 17, 2020
November 18, 2020
November 19, 2020
November 20, 2020
November 16, 2020 - Monday
Tod Burwell
Tod Burwell
President & CEO
BAFT

Tod Burwell is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BAFT. Prior to being promoted to CEO, he served as the Senior Vice President of Trade Products with oversight of all trade-related initiatives including the Global Trade Industry Council, Trade Committees, and other strategic initiatives of the organization. Mr. Burwell has over 25 years of trade, supply chain and cash management experience as a banking practitioner, as well as serving as a consultant to global corporations and suppliers of strategically integrated trade solutions. Prior to joining BAFT, Mr. Burwell was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase and held senior global management roles responsible for trade operations, launching the logistics business and managing global product sales for trade finance and logistics management.

Amy Celico
Amy Celico
Principal
Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG)

Amy Celico is a Principal of Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) and leads the firm’s China team in DC. With over 25 years of experience working on China issues Amy helps clients develop and implement strategies to deepen relationships with stakeholders, resolve complex problems, and expand their business in the China market. Prior to ASG, Amy served as Senior Director for China Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; Deputy Director of the Office of the Chinese Economic Area at the Department of Commerce; and as a diplomat in Beijing and Shanghai with the Departments of State and Commerce. Amy earned a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Sudhir Dole
Sudhir Dole
Chief Executive Officer
Trade Information Network

Sudhir Dole is the CEO of Trade Information Network Limited since January 2020. Mr. Dole has worked for 27 years as a banker. He started his career with ANZ Grindlays Bank in 1992 and has also worked with Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and ICICI Bank. His domain experience started with trade finance, and includes cash management, fund raising and financial institutions. He was the head of the transaction banking business for ICICI Bank (2006-2009). He has experience of working across multiple geographies including Hong Kong, UK and India. He has been in Chief Executive roles since 2008 and more recently, he was the CEO of ICICI Bank UK plc for six years.

Matt Fowler
Matt Fowler
Vice President & Head of Machine Learning, Enterprise Data and Analytics
TD Bank

Mr. Matt Fowler has over 20 years' experience with various International Financial Services organizations. He joined TD Securities in 2009 and grew his mandate to include Regulatory, Control, Vendor and Data Services for the Wholesale Bank. Responsible for a Global team of almost 300, he has influenced, sponsored and delivered strategic platforms and solutions to simplify TD Securities complex data driven needs.

Mark Garfield
Mark Garfield
Head, Global Financial Institutions
Zions Bancorporation

Mark Garfield’s current role is Head of Global Financial Institutions at Zions Bancorporation responsible for foreign bank relationship development. He joined Zions Bancorporation in 2005. He has over 30 years of banking experience with 25 years in international banking management covering trade finance, trade services, foreign exchange, correspondent banking and product development. Throughout his career he has worked closely with corporate and commercial entities in the Midwest and Western U.S. providing banking support for cross-border trade. Mr. Garfield currently serves as a Director of BAFT and Chair of the Utah District Export Council. He served on the DEC National Advisory Board and Board of the World Trade Center, Utah.

Beth Geller
Beth Geller
Executive Director, Wholesale Payments
J.P. Morgan

Beth Geller is an Executive Director with the JP Morgan Wholesale Payments Industry Issues team. She is responsible for engagement with the Federal Reserve, the Clearing House and other key industry groups in the U.S. Prior to joining the Industry Issues group she ran the Global Clearing Strategic Programs team responsible for ISO20022 migration, Dodd Frank 1073 Compliance, Fraud and SWIFT. Beth has been with JPMorgan Chase since 1998 and prior to joining Treasury Services she held a variety of positions in the Consumer bank.

Takis Georgakopoulos
Takis Georgakopoulos
Managing Director & Global Head of Wholesale Payments
JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Takis Georgakopoulos is head of Wholesale Payments for J.P. Morgan, the firm’s global business that combines cash management, payment solutions and merchant services to corporate clients, financial institutions and governments. He also oversees the Product, Client Service & Implementations and Sales teams globally. Takis joined JPMorgan Chase in 2007 as head of Corporate Strategy. Previously he was a partner at McKinsey & Company in New York, where he helped lead the Asset Management and Retirement practice.

Madhav Goparaju
Madhav Goparaju
Product Executive, Head of Digital Transformation for Global Trade & Supply Chain Finance
Bank of America

Madhav Goparaju is a managing director in the product team for Global Trade & Supply Chain Finance in Global Transaction Services. In his primary role, Madhav leads the digital transformation of the trade & supply chain finance operating model, developing the strategy, and overseeing the design of new products and platforms. A large part of this effort involves collaborating with fintechs, third party providers, consortiums, and other financial institutions to create a pathway towards universal accessibility and adoption of a digital end-to-end experience. Madhav joined Bank of America in 2019 from McKinsey & Company where he led the North America transaction services practice. Madhav’s consulting experience, which spans seven years, also includes working at Ernst & Young and Capco in roles that supported global financial institutions, private equity, fintechs and technology companies on digital transformation and operating model transformation. He spent a further ten years at financial institutions such as RBS, ABN Amro and Wells Fargo.

Peter Hall
Peter Hall
VP & Chief Economist
Export Development Canada (EDC)

Peter Hall joined Export Development Canada (EDC) in November 2004. With over 30 years of experience in economic analysis and forecasting, Mr. Hall is responsible for overseeing EDC’s economic analysis, country risk assessment and corporate research groups. In addition to preparing strategic advice for senior management at EDC, Mr. Hall is a featured speaker at conferences, international roundtables and policy fora, and regularly appears in television, radio and print media commenting on the world economy and Canadian international trade issues. He produces a widely circulated print and video weekly commentary covering an eclectic range of current global economic issues. Prior to joining EDC, Mr. Hall directed the economic forecasting activities of the Conference Board of Canada.

Alex Hernandez
Alex Hernandez
Vice President, Emerging Technology
DefenseStorm

Alex Hernandez has more than 20 years of experience providing security solutions and expertise to some of the largest companies in the world. He regularly speaks at regional and national IT and security conferences, and frequently is a featured expert at cybersecurity association meetings around the country. Alex has worked with several leading security solutions providers, including Barracuda Networks, Purewire, Secure Computing, CipherTrust, S1 and SecureWare. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Florida.

Whitman Knapp
Whitman Knapp
Chairman
GTB Insights

Whit Knapp is the Chairman of GTBInsights, LLC a US-based firm providing advisory, strategy and educational services on DL/blockchain technology for Global Transaction Banking to banks and fintechs. He brings to this work decades of hands-on transaction banking experience to understand the implications of today’s rapidly evolving financial technology. After 25 years in transaction banking in the US, Europe and Middle East, and before founding GTBInsights, LLC in 2011, Whit spent 20 years providing market research to the banking industry. In 1992, he founded the Financial Institutions Group practice at Louis Harris and Associates in New York. Under his leadership, that practice developed into a firm which today is called FImetrix LLC, a provider of competitive insights and intelligence in international payments, trade, and supply chain services to major banks across the globe.

Rebecca Liao
Rebecca Liao
Co-Founder and COO
Skuchain

Rebecca Liao is Co-Founder and COO at Skuchain, a top blockchain company that provides an end-to-end platform for trade and supply chain, and a 2019 World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer. She was a member of Secretary Clinton’s foreign policy team for her 2016 presidential campaign, responsible for Asia trade and economic policy. Rebecca was previously Director of Business Development and head of Asia at Globality, Inc., a B2B platform for AI-powered procurement of professional services. She began her career as an international corporate attorney at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP and Fenwick & West LLP, representing clients in Asia, North America and Europe on domestic and cross-border transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments, debt financings and public offerings of debt and equity.

Jan McInnis
Jan McInnis
Emcee
the.worklady.com

Jan McInnis has traveled the country, for the past 25+ years, as a keynote speaker, comedian, and Master of Ceremonies. She has shared her clean humor and unique message on using humor in business to thousands of organizations. She is also an accomplished Master of Ceremonies who helps keep events on track and interesting for the attendees, and she's an established comedy writer who has written for many groups including the Tonight Show monologue. Jan was featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Huffington Post for her clean humor, and she's the author of two books: "Finding The Funny Fast," and "Convention Comedian."

Adam Munro
Adam Munro
Group Manager, Cyber Financial Intelligence
Standard Chartered Bank

Adam Munro manages Standard Chartered’s Cyber Financial Intelligence (CyFI) function which is specifically focused on identifying, investigating and mitigating financial crime risks generated from cybercrime. CyFI has examined topics including financial crime threats from advanced cyber actors, the challenges posed to financial institutions by cryptocurrencies and how dark web marketplaces launder funds into the mainstream financial sector. Prior to this role, Adam was based in London and managed cyber focused internal investigations and broader conduct matters for Standard Chartered across the Europe and America’s region. Before joining SCB, Adam had a career in UK Government including at the Bank of England’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Unit, Collusion Inquiries in Northern Ireland and investigating allegations of serious police misconduct.

Samantha Pelosi
Samantha Pelosi
Senior Vice President, Payments and Innovation
BAFT

Samantha Pelosi joined BAFT in 2016 as a Senior Vice President to define its payments and innovation strategies and increase its visibility in financial crime compliance. Samantha currently focuses on application of innovative technologies like blockchain in banking, faster payments systems, and reversing the worldwide decline in correspondent banking relationships. Samantha came to BAFT from the payments from the Federal Reserve Board. As a manager in the payments systems division, Pelosi formulated U.S. public policy and led all initiatives related to retail payments. In the consumer protection division, she wrote regulations implementing the Dodd-Frank Act at the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis as a senior attorney. Before the Federal Reserve, Pelosi served as global head of regulatory compliance at Travelex Global Business Payments (now Western Union Business Solutions).

Brett Ryan
Brett Ryan
Senior US Economist
Deutsche Bank

Brett Ryan is a Senior Economist at Deutsche Bank covering both the US and Canada. Brett is responsible for high-frequency data forecasting and frequently publishes research on US and Canadian macro-economic policy issues. Brett has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania; majoring in politics, philosophy and economics.

Sherif Samy
Sherif Samy
Chief Growth Officer & Senior Vice President, North America
Entersekt

Sherif Samy is the Chief Growth Officer at Entersekt. He heads up the company’s global commercial and delivery organization, managing channel partners and a geographically and functionally diverse set of teams with responsibility for all stages of revenue generation and revenue recognition. He previously served as Entersekt’s SVP North America, during which time he was included in One World Identity’s “Top Influencers in Identity 2019”. Mr. Samy has close to two decades of experience in the financial services industry, primarily focusing on payments innovation, cyber security, and digital identity. Prior to joining Entersekt, he was responsible for establishing and building UL’s Transaction Security business in North America, where he succeeded in building a multimillion dollar business with a team of over 120 payments and security experts in just four years.

Christian Stolcke
Christian Stolcke
Head of Global Financial Institutions, NBFIs and Governments, Global Payment Solutions
Bank of America

Christian Stolcke is a Capital Markets and Transaction Banking veteran who has spent his career growing financial service businesses and executing global, large scale performance improvement programs across Shared Services, Operations and Technology. At Bank of America, Christian is Managing Director and head of Global Financial Institutions, Non-Bank Financial Institutions and Governments within Global Payments Solutions (GPS). In this role, Christian leads a worldwide team of sales and product professionals responsible for maintaining and strengthening relationships with clients across several industries, including banks, governments, investment managers, securities firms, insurance, paytech, private capital and specialty finance firms. Products span global cash management, trade and supply chain finance, foreign exchange, commercial card, liquidity, and investment solutions.

John Taylor
John Taylor
Co-founder & Director, CASTL and Honorary Professor, CCLS, QMUL
Centre for Applied Sustainable Transition Law (CASTL)

John Taylor specializes in international law, finance, trade and corporate governance. He is a director of the Centre for Applied Sustainable Transition Law (CASTL) and an Honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London. He advises banks and other clients on cross-border sustainablility, financial regulation and international business opportunities. He has held legal and banking positions in the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and EBRD, where he was General Counsel. His other experience has been in law firms in Australia, the US and the UK and in an international investment bank, a private equity firm and a large fund management group. He is an Honorary Member of BAFT and has been a member of BAFT’s Europe Council since 2010.

November 17, 2020 - Tuesday
Raphael Barisaac
Raphael Barisaac
Global Head of Cash Management & Global Co-Head of Trade
UniCredit

Raphael Barisaac, Global Head of Cash Management and Global Co-Head of Trade Finance, UniCredit. Since 2019, Mr. Barisaac is responsible for the Cash Management and Co-Heading the Trade Finance at UniCredit Group level, developing strategy for Innovative solutions within the cash, trade and liquidity management for corporate clients. Mr. Barisaac joined UniCredit in 2015 as Global Head of Trade Products from Surecomp, a leading provider of global trade solutions, where he held various positions for over 15 years in Sales, Operations, Business Development, Account management and Client projects, among others. He started his career in banking at Mercantile Bank in 1994.

Jennifer Bearden
Jennifer Bearden
Associate Director
International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers (IACPM)

Jennifer Bearden is the Associate Director of the International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers (IACPM). The IACM is a non-profit industry association dedicated to advancing the practice of credit portfolio management through advocacy, research, education, communication and promotion of sound practices. The Association has grown enormously since its formation in 2001; IACPM members now total over 100 financial institutions around the globe. In her role, Jennifer works with Som-lok Leung, IACPM Executive Director and Marcia Banks, Deputy Director to further the goals and objectives of the Association. Previously, Jennifer was a Director, Senior Trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for nine years. She traded credit default swaps, corporate bonds and loans for the global loan portfolio group covering various industries. Jennifer’s previous experience was as a Director at Bank One in the credit portfolio management group. Jennifer holds an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern and a BA in Economics, Markets and Management from Duke University.

James Binns
James Binns
Global Head, Trade and Working Capital
Barclays

James Binns is the Global Head of Trade and Working Capital for Barclays Bank, which serves Corporate, NBFI and FI clients globally with teams located in UK, Europe, Americas, Asia and the Middle East. Prior to joining Barclays, James spent 4.5 years at Deutsche Bank where he headed Working Capital Advisory and Trade Finance for EMEA and latterly Global Cross Product Solutions. This followed 20 years at HSBC where James was based across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, USA and UK in a number of senior Corporate Banking and Trade Finance roles.

Jean-François Denis
Jean-François Denis
Global Head, Trade Solutions
BNP Paribas

Jean-Francois Denis is Global Head of Trade Solutions for BNP Paribas. He was previously Deputy Chief Transformation Officer at BNP Paribas Fortis after close to a decade acting as Deputy Head of Cash Management at BNP Paribas, in particular in charge of Payments and Collections products. Before integration in BNP Paribas, he was Global Head of the Electronic Payments Operations at Fortis Bank, in charge of the operations on all geographies. He previously led major programs in the Fortis group: the implementation of a Shared International Payment Center and the setup of the core-banking platform of the Belgian Postbank. He started his career with Siemens where he hold during 8 years engineering positions in the banking and telecom lines of businesses.

Merlin Dowse
Merlin Dowse
Executive Director, Product Manager
J.P. Morgan

Merlin Dowse is an Executive Director and a Global Product Manager within the Core Product team. In this capacity, Merlin leads a global team responsible for the management of digital solutions and innovation available to the clients of J.P. Morgan across the globe. Merlin previously held the position of Global Product Manager for the Portfolio Management Group within Global Trade at J.P. Morgan. In this role he led the digitization efforts of both the internal and external processes supporting the distribution of all trade finance assets. Prior to this, while based in London, he was managing the EMEA Trade product set for the Corporate client segment, where he worked on various initiatives such as the Bank Payment Obligation, SWIFT for Corporates whilst also helping expand J.P. Morgan’s global footprint. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Merlin worked in various capacities in the Trade Services department at Rabobank in the Netherlands. Merlin has been involved in numerous industry-wide initiatives and was recently appointed as Vice-Chair to the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Banking Commission and he is also the Sponsor of the Commercialisation Working Group under the auspices of the ICC Digital Standards Initiative (DSI).

Robin Findlay
Robin Findlay
Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing
Surecomp

Robin Findlay is Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Surecomp – one of the leading providers of trade finance solutions. He is based in the UK and oversees Surecomp’s sales activities with banks and multi-national corporations across 6 continents. Robin has over 20 years’ experience leading international commercial teams for software providers such as Fiserv, FICO and TransUnion, helping financial institutions in both emerging and established markets to improve processes and profitability. Robin has Bachelor’s degrees in both Chemistry and Modern Languages and is currently studying for a further degree in Astronomy and Planetary Science.

Normand Girard, CDCS
Normand Girard, CDCS
Director, Global Trade Operations, BMO Financial Group
Chair, BAFT Commercial Letters of Credit Committee

Normand Girard is Director, Global Trade Operations for BMO. He is responsible for the Bank’s processing of all trade finance products in North America and Europe as well as process oversight in Asia. Mr. Girard has 35 years of experience in Global Trade Operations at BMO. During his career with the Bank, he has covered every role in Import, Export, Standby Letters of Credit and Collections as well as integral operations leadership roles throughout the evolution of BMO’s trade finance business. He has been Chair of the BAFT Southeast Committee from 2011 to 2017. He is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and currently Chair of the BAFT National Commercial Letter of Credit Committee since 2017.

Carol Hitselberger
Carol Hitselberger
Partner & Co-Leader, Banking and Finance Practice
Mayer Brown

Carol Hitselberger is co-leader of Mayer Brown’s Banking & Finance practice, and focuses her practice in the structured finance area. She spends significant time on accounting and regulatory developments that impact the structured finance industry. Carol is a member of the Structured Finance Association, the structured finance industry’s leading trade organization, and in 2019 was appointed to the Structured Finance Association’s Executive Committee. In addition, she is a Committee Chair of the Association’s Significant Risk Transfer committee. Carol often works with investors and issuers in structured finance products of most types, including trade receivables, credit card receivables, consumer loans, auto loans, aircraft, leases, franchise portfolios, government contracts, trademark licenses, and various other financial assets.

Steven Lotito
Steven Lotito
Managing Director & Head of Trade Finance, North America
MUFG

Steven Lotito is Managing Director and Head of Trade Finance in Transaction Banking for the Americas at MUFG Union Bank, N.A. In his role, Steven manages the sales and product management organizations responsible for advising the bank’s client’s in the Corporate, Commercial and Japanese Corporate Banking segments in North America navigate some of the most important trade markets by delivering timely information on international markets, bringing innovative products to market, and providing trade financing solutions and risk management strategies. Steven has more than 30 years of experience in commodity finance and international trade finance. Prior to MUFG, he served as Senior Vice President and Head of Sales, Global Trade & Receivables Finance, North America; and Director and Head of Transaction Banking for the Americas at HSBC Bank USA and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group respectively. In addition, he has held senior trade and commodity finance roles at ABSA Banking Corp., Ecoban Finance Ltd., Phibro Inc., and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Shannon Manders
Shannon Manders
Editorial Director
GTR

Shannon Manders is the Editorial Director of GTR, the world's leading international trade finance publication. She is also a freelance financial journalist, editor and editorial consultant with 12 years of experience reporting on and producing print and online publications for the global trade and trade finance sector. Shannon has extensive experience in moderating discussions, both at GTR’s own conferences and at a range of other top industry events hosted by the likes of the ICC Banking Commission, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, SWIFT (Sibos) and the Commonwealth Business Forum. She regularly covers stories from international locations, and has hosted numerous roundtable discussions and webinars.

Michael McDonough
Michael McDonough
Head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions
Santander Commercial Bank

Michael McDonough leads the Trade & Working Capital functions for Santander’s Commercial Bank franchise in the United States. In this role he leads teams providing solutions across the Commercial Card, Core Trade and Supply Chain / Accounts Receivable solution sets. Additionally, his team leads the development and management of the Domestic and International working capital channels, which include Santander’s international Treasury Management platform. Prior to this role, Michael held a number of roles at J.P. Morgan including global product head for the Corporate Trade & Supply Chain Finance business and head of N. America Trade & Export Finance. Michael previously held global Supply Chain Finance roles at RBS and ABN Amro in London and Amsterdam. Michael has both a BS and a MBA from Boston College.

John Murray
John Murray
Senior Vice President, Corporate and Financial Institutions Trade Sales
BNY Mellon

John T. Murray is a Senior Vice President in Global Trade Product and Portfolio Management in Treasury Services Global Product Management. His responsibilities include Trade and Supply Chain Finance Product Management for North America corporates, ECAs and BNY Mellon Network. Previously John worked with acquisition and distribution of trade-related assets from bank counterparts and risk mitigation with non-bank (insurance) and World Bank IFC programs. He also worked in sales for the Mid-Atlantic and Southern U.S. investment grade corporate and financial institutions for trade processing and supply chain finance. Prior to his sales roles, John managed the Client Services and Implementations unit within the Trade Finance Services division, responsible for trade product relationship management, new business implementation and business administration.

Caryn Pace-Messenger
Caryn Pace-Messenger
Managing Director, Global Trade and Supply Chain Finance
Bank of America

Caryn Pace is a Managing Director in Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America. She heads Global Portfolio Management & Product Risk in Global Trade & Supply Chain. In this role, she has responsibility for the trade portfolio including monitoring, development of risk mitigation strategies, forecast impacts, and balance sheet management. Her team has oversight of risk mitigation on a portfolio and transaction level, including routines involving high risk transactions, asset quality, and business control. To drive and influence the global trade business strategy, she engages with clients and potential third party partnership opportunities to understand market perspective and evolving product needs. Caryn is a part of Bank of America’s Hispanic-Latino Executive Council. She serves on the GPS Social & Economic Action Council and is an active leader in junior talent initiatives. Previously, she held positions within global trade at J.P. Morgan where she worked for 12 years. She currently serves as a Vice-Chair on the International Chamber of Commerce Banking Commission. Caryn received her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and is based in New York.

Ebru Pakcan
Ebru Pakcan
Managing Director & Global Head of Trade
Treasury and Trade Solutions Institutional Clients Group
Citi

Ebru Pakcan is the Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions business for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) based in London. Ms Pakcan is actively engaged with Citi's clients across Corporate, Financials Institutions and Public Sector entities, developing payment, cash management and trade financing solutions to meet their evolving requirements. She leads a team of business managers, product and sales specialists across a set of diverse markets and disciplines.

Gayle Roenbaugh
Gayle Roenbaugh
Export Finance Director, West Region
U.S. Small Business Administration

Gayle Roenbaugh is the Export Finance Director for the West Region with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Working closely with the network of SBA field offices and SBA’s Office of International Trade (OIT), she provides international trade and export finance expertise to small business exporters and lending communities to deliver them effective export results. Gayle works with SBA-staffed U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEAC) to educate small business exporters, their lenders and trade related organizations on trade finance products through market knowledge, financing options and trade connections. She also provides insights into SBA’s trade policy and market developments in collaboration with key stakeholders. Prior to joining SBA, Gayle was Senior Regional Manager for Export Development Canada (EDC) where she provided market knowledge, trade connections and financing origination to support the development of Canada’s direct or indirect export trade. She was also Senior Trade Sales Manager at HSBC Bank’s Global Trade & Receivables Finance group and led the sales, execution and management of the bank’s SBA and Export Import Bank of the U.S. Of The United States (EXIM) lending programs as well as Supply Chain, Receivables Finance and traditional trade solutions and has held similar roles at RBS Group, PNC and JPMorgan Chase.

Tom Scarpulla
Tom Scarpulla
Senior Vice President, Technology Services, Americas
StoneX Technology Services

Tom Scarpulla heads customer retention and relationship management for the Americas at StoneX Technology Services LLC (STS). STS is a dedicated technology unit within StoneX Group Inc., a global financial services company headquartered in New York. STS provides a range of business-driven financial technology solutions designed for business driven goals and needs. Solutions include SWIFT connectivity, integration, treasury management solutions, and compliance. Tom joined StoneX Technology Services in early 2019, previously he worked at SWIFT in New York where helped lead the Asset Management and insurance vertical.

Kristine Siebel
Kristine Siebel
Past Chair BAFT Standby & Guarantee Committee
BAFT

Ms. Kristine Siebel retired in 2022 after 45 years in the Letter of Credit world. At retirement she was a Vice President at Societe Generale in their Trade Finance Group, previously she had been a Senior Credit Officer for Royal Bank of Canada responsible for their Captive Reinsurance Business in New York. Prior to joining RBC, Ms. Siebel was Assistant Vice President and Standby Letter of Credit Risk Officer for JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York. Ms. Siebel began her career in Trade Services with JPMorgan Chase’s predecessor bank Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. Ms. Siebel has extensive experience in both the issuance and the risk aspects of Standby Letters of Credit. She has been a member of the BAFT North American Standby Letter of Credit Committee since its inception in 1994 and was the Chair of the committee until her retirement. At this time she is also an Honorary Member of BAFT.

Joshua Stein
Joshua Stein
Vice President, Accounting and Financial Management
American Bankers Association

Josh Stein arrived to the American Bankers Association in October 2017. He works alongside Mike Gullette in the ABA’s efforts with the FASB and the U.S. banking regulators in helping bankers understand and implement policies and regulations related to accounting, financial reporting, internal controls, and capital management. Specifically, Mr. Stein is working on efforts related the implementation of FASB’s CECL standard. Mr. Stein brings to the ABA almost twenty years of experience. Mr. Stein started his career as an auditor for KPMG, where he concentrated on financial institutions. He worked as an analyst and an inspector for the PCAOB. He also worked in an accounting policy position at a large private equity firm. Mr. Stein is a Certified Public Accountant.

David Unsdorfer
David Unsdorfer
Senior Vice President, Technology Services, EMEA & APAC
StoneX Technology Services

David Unsdorfer is a Senior Vice President at StoneX Technology Services (STS) in London, and is responsible for growth in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. STS is a dedicated technology unit within StoneX Group Inc., a global financial services company headquartered in New York. STS provides a range of business-driven financial technology solutions designed to drive business performance and improve operational efficiencies. Prior to joining StoneX, David held senior relationship management positions with both ClearBank and SWIFT.

Kris Van Broekhoven
Kris Van Broekhoven
Chief Financial Officer
Komgo

Kris Van Broekhoven is Chief Financial Officer of Komgo, the multi-bank digital platform that is streamlining trade finance and introducing blockchain based tools to mitigate fraud. Until recently, Kris was Global Head of Commodity Trade Finance at Citibank, where he spearheaded the digital transformation of trade finance and led Citi’s involvement as a founding member of Komgo. Prior to Citi he was EMEA head of structured commodity trade finance at Deutsche Bank. Kris has 26 years of international banking experience and is determined to bring an inefficient and paper based industry into the digital age.

Michael Vrontamitis
Michael Vrontamitis
Lead Industry Principal, Lending Business Unit
Finastra

Michael Vrontamitis is the Lead Industry Principal for Finastra’s Lending Business Unit, which covers Cash Management, Trade and Working Capital Management, Retail and Corporate Lending. He also advises several start-ups, including Kountable Inc, and is a member of the World Trade Board. A renowned industry thought leader, he is particularly passionate about the intersection between sustainability, technology and finance and the impact digitalization can have in narrowing the trade finance gap and enabling sustainable supply chains. Prior to Finastra, Michael spent 25 years with Standard Chartered, spanning both wholesale and retail clients, as well as investor relations, working in Hong Kong, London and Singapore. He was the Global Head of Trade Finance Product, and most recently responsible for the bank’s trade finance business with European and American headquartered companies. He also looked after sales, product, distribution, service and implementation in Europe and the Americas.

Stephen Wojciechowicz
Stephen Wojciechowicz
Senior Principal, Product Management
BNY Mellon

Stephen Wojciechowicz is a Senior Principal in Product Management for BNY Mellon, responsible for development and delivery of USD Clearing services. He is a chairman emeritus of the BAFT Payments Committee and a former dean of The Payments Institute. He joined BNY Mellon in 2019 after holding leadership positions in risk and product management at Deutsche Bank and HSBC. He has held a variety of roles at SWIFT, including sales and market development of file transfer and FX trade matching services in North America.

November 18, 2020 - Wednesday
Ozgur Akdeniz
Ozgur Akdeniz
North America Trade Sales Head
Citi

Oz Akdeniz is the North America Trade Sales Head at Citibank overseeing a team of Trade and Supply Chain professionals who work with Citi’s Institutional Client Group (ICG). Throughout his career Oz has been passionate about delivering innovative solutions to Multi-National Clients who operate in complexities of international corporate banking. Oz is frequently a speaker and participant at various industry forums in the capacity of guest speaker / panel member on the digitization of payments and trade. Oz is closely involved with the Bankers Association of Finance & Trade (BAFT) in the USA. He was selected in the Future Leaders program in 2018, and subsequently became a Future Leader Mentor in 2019 and is now out he planning committee for the 2020 North American BAFT Annual Meeting. Oz has also been a mentor for the 30% Club supporting aspiring Women in Leadership in NY since 2017. Previously Oz worked at ANZ Banking Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Andrew Boyajian
Andrew Boyajian
Executive Director, Emerging Payments
J.P. Morgan

Andrew Boyajian leads product commercialization of emerging payments and fintechs for Wholesale Payments at J.P. Morgan. Focused on harmonizing products and platforms across the North American markets, he works with networks to modernize payments and evaluate fintechs for opportunities and growth. With expertise across the payments industry, Andrew previously served as Head of Banking, North America for TransferWise, expanding the company into Canada, the US, and Mexico as well as managing its strategic financial partnerships. He also served as Director of International and Payments at Kickstarter, where he launched the crowdfunding company across to new audiences across seventeen markets. Andrew graduated from Elizabethtown College with a BS in International Business and began his career with financial operations roles at Google and Eventbrite.

Marie-Laure Gastellu
Marie-Laure Gastellu
Global Head of Trade Services
Societe Generale

Marie-Laure Gastellu is the Global Head of Trade Services since November 2016. Engaged in the transformation of trade finance, she is an executive banker with 30 years of experience in banking, transformation, innovation and management of large French and international teams. Marie-Laure joins Societe Generale in 1989 within the internal consulting department. In 1994, she takes responsibility for a portfolio of corporate clients in Paris and then in New York, and runs SG Americas’ Marketing division from 2001 to 2004. Until 2006, Marie-Laure is Global COO of Societe Generale’s division for corporate clients and investors, and then Chief of Staff to Chairman and CEO Daniel Bouton between 2006 and 2009.

Natasha Condon
Natasha Condon
Managing Director, Global Head of Core Trade
J.P. Morgan

Natasha Condon is the Global Head of Core Trade within Wholesale Payments at JPMorgan Chase. She has 15+ years of experience across trade finance and working capital solutions for both corporate and financial institutions. She has extensive experience with providing strategic working capital advisory, risk mitigation, sales growth, and digital efficiencies for the top multinationals in the world. Natasha comes to the firm from Citi, where she was the Global Trade Sales Head. While there, she led five regional teams around the world and provided personal leadership on large strategic deals.

Marcos DeBenedictis
Head of Sustainable Finance & Transition Finance
Barclays Bank
Neil Gregory
Neil Gregory
Chief Thought Leadership Officer
International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Neil Gregory is Chief Thought Leadership Officer of the International Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of the World Bank Group. He has held a range of senior strategy and management roles at IFC, including research, business planning, investment and advisory functions. He was previously Adviser to the UK Executive Director of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and an Economic Adviser to the UK Government. He has extensive work experience in South Asia, China, Africa and the Caribbean. A British national, Neil has MA and MSc degrees in Economics from Cambridge and Oxford and an MBA from Georgetown.

Shawn Haynes
Shawn Haynes
Vice President
BAFT

Shawn Haynes is the Vice President, Operations and Business Management at BAFT. Mr. Haynes joined BAFT in spring 2017. His primary responsibilities include oversight of BAFT’s regional councils and the association’s educational offerings. Since joining, Mr. Haynes has stood up the BAFT Project Management Office, which connects banks with specific consulting or training needs to industry professionals. Prior to his role with BAFT, Shawn worked as management consultant leading operational-improvement programs for manufacturing, and financial services industry clients.

Carsten Hils
Carsten Hils
Global Head, Payments Division
StoneX Group

Carsten Hils is the Global Head for StoneX Groups Payments Division. He has started the business in 2003 and has managed it since then. Prior to working for StoneX Group, Carsten held positions in Treasury, Trading and Asset Management with major financial institutions in Frankfurt, London and New York. His focus was on the markets of developing world in the foreign exchange, money markets and in the interest rate segment. He received his education and formal bank training in Germany.

Joon Kim
Joon Kim
Global Head - Trade Finance Product and Portfolio Management
BNY Mellon

Mr. Joon Kim has 25+ years of experience. He has held various senior positions at Standard Chartered Bank and American Express Bank, most recently as Managing Director and Head of Transaction Banking Sales for Corporate and Commodities for the Americas region. His various experiences include leading Trade Sales, Trade Product Management and Relationship Management teams, with an emphasis on development and sales of trade finance, supply chain financing, receivable services, trade processing and cross-border cash and liquidity management solutions to global financial institutions and corporations.

Vinod Madhavan
Vinod Madhavan
Group Head, Trade
Standard Bank Group

Vinod Madhavan is currently Group Head: Trade, Standard Bank. In this role he is responsible for Trade, one of the universal capabilities identified by Standard Bank, to be delivered across the Group. Thereby, allowing Standard Bank to show up as one universal financial services organization, wherever they are based and whichever client segment they are servicing. He also has P&L responsibility for Trade across the Group (i.e., across sectors in Corporate & Investment Bank and divisions in Personal & Business Banking units). Standard Bank franchise (spanning 20 markets in Africa) offers trade and supply chain finance services and solutions, to clients in Institutional, Corporate, Commercial, Business and Enterprise client segments.

Ana Carolina Oliveira
Ana Carolina Oliveira
Head of Sustainable Finance, Americas
ING
Luke Perkins
Luke Perkins
Head of Global Cross Border Payments
ANZ

Luke Perkins is our Head of Global Cross Border Payments, driving the product strategy, development and innovation across ANZ’s cross border payments products. Luke is a Transaction Banking professional, with over 20 years’ experience in the Payments industry. Starting in Operations and Technology through the early part of his career, Luke has since specialised in the Financial Institutions segment, with roles including establishing ANZ’s Network Management function; Head of Agency Clearing (Australia), Head of Financial Institution Sales (Americas) and most recently, Head of Clearing Product (Australia and New Zealand).

David Scola
David Scola
Chief Executive – US
Form3

Dave joined Form3 in 2022 in order to lead the charge to bring Form3's platform and capabilities to bear on the US market. Dave has worked in transaction banking for over 25 years and joined Form3 from SWIFT where he was Chief Executive for the Americas, UK and Ireland with responsibility for the company's largest relationship as well as its global securities business. Prior to SWIFT, Dave was the Global Head of Financial Institutions at Barclays, responsible for the bank's correspondent banking, FI trade, flow FX, and liquidity management businesses for FIs. He has also worked at Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York in both product and strategy roles and across various products lines including cash, trade finance, custody and corporate trust.

Gerald Walker
Gerald Walker
CEO, Americas
ING

Gerald Walker was appointed Chief Executive Officer of ING Americas in July 2017. He has worked for ING since 1990, holding a range of senior positions - most recently as CEO UK, Ireland, Middle East & Africa. Non-executive positions have included: Chairman of the Board of The Association of Foreign Banks (UK); Board Director of TheCityUK, Board Director of the European Association of Banking & Financial History (Germany) and Member of the Wholesale Advisory Committee of the British Bankers Association. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from The University of Edinburgh (UK).

Craig Weeks
Craig Weeks
Managing Partner
Prism Global Partners

Craig Weeks is an independent consultant for organizations needing Trade Finance, Supply Chain, and other Transaction Banking expertise. Craig serves as an advisor to the Global Trade Professionals Alliance, an organization dedicated to the development of international standards to harmonize and facilitate inclusive and trusted Trade. Craig is also an Executive Practicum Adviser within the North Carolina State University Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (and a member of the SCRC Advisory Board). Craig is an Advisory Board member of the Falcon Group, a leading inventory management solutions provider and also an advisor to Capital and Credit Risk Manager (CCRM), a Singapore-based FinTech. Craig was appointed as a Senior Advisor to ESG Validation, a London based entity providing the investment community with independent, consistent, and evidence-based assessment of ESG performance. In March 2019 Craig was appointed to the 2019-2020 cohort of the Trade Finance Advisory Council (TFAC) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Craig served as SVP and Manager of the International Banking Group of US Bank where his responsibilities included managing the Trade Finance, International Financial Institutions, and Supply Chain Finance teams. Prior to US Bank, Craig was President and CEO of IRIA (US) Inc., a subsidiary of a Swiss-based specialist broker of commodity-related structured credit, and political risk, insurance products. Craig’s experience includes 4 years at Citibank and 14 years with JPMorgan where he served as MD and Global Trade Sales Head for both institutions.

Enno-Burghard Weitzel
Enno-Burghard Weitzel
Senior Vice President, Strategy, Digitization and Business Development
Surecomp

Enno’s primary role is to help Surecomp fulfill its mission to enable seamless, sustainable trade for everyone by removing barriers and fostering collaboration. He is responsible for driving Surecomp’s strategic direction to ensure product development is completely aligned with customer needs. A seasoned expert in the field of corporate banking with a focus on cash and trade, Enno joined Surecomp in March 2021. Prior to that he spent five years at leading global management consultancy firm McKinsey. He has also held senior positions at Commerzbank, one of the world’s top 20 trade finance banks. Enno’s command of the trade finance industry and his strong customer orientation are key to enabling customers drive growth through enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, fostering collaboration and improving customer service.

Anne Clarke Wolff
Anne Clarke Wolff
Chairman, Global Corporate and Investment Banking
Bank of America Securities

Anne Clarke Wolff is chairman of Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB) at Bank of America. Based in New York, Anne focuses on some of our largest global clients to help drive client coverage effectiveness and collaboration across GCIB. Her responsibilities include leveraging the strategic delivery of the bank’s balance sheet and increasing opportunities for C-suite and boardroom dialogue across the globe. Prior to this role, Anne spent the past eight years building Bank of America’s strategic corporate banking and leasing businesses into industry leaders. Anne is the executive sponsor for the Women’s Leadership Council within Bank of America’s Global Banking and Markets. She has been recognized by American Banker as one of The Most Powerful Women in Banking and by Crain’s New York as one of the publication’s Notable Women in Finance.

Kenneth Wong
Kenneth Wong
Head, Global Transaction Banking Product Strategy and Innovation
TD Bank

Ken Wong is Head of Product Strategy and Innovation for the Global Transaction Bank at TD Bank that encompasses the Financial Institutions, Cash Management and Trade Finance lines-of-business. He has been in the financial Industry for over 30 years in different business divisions from Consumer Banking to Corporate and Institutional Banking with roles from Front Office Financial Services Sales and Relationship Management to Back Office Operations and Technology. He is a seasoned Treasury, Cash Management and Payments practitioner with extensive experience in the Foreign Exchange integrated Payments and Clearing space. He has extensive international exposure with working assignments in Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America.

David Woo
David Woo
Head of Global Rates, FX and EM Fixed Income Strategy & Economics Research
Bank of America

David Woo is head of Global Rates, FX and EM Fixed Income Strategy & Economics Research at BofA Global Research. In this role, he is responsible for the bank’s views and forecasts for developed and emerging sovereign bond yields and exchange rates. Woo also serves as a member of the Research Executive Management Committee. Woo joined BofA Global Research from Barclays Capital, where he served as head of Global Foreign Exchange Strategy for six years. Before joining Barclays, he spent four years at Citigroup as head of Local Markets Strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He began his career as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. Woo has a B.A. in mathematics from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

Saravana Govindarajulu
Saravana Govindarajulu
Head of Correspondent Banking & Network Management
Emirates NBD, Dubai

Saravana Perumal Govindarajulu, currently works as “Head of Correspondent Banking & Network Management” at Emirates NBD, Dubai. He carries extensive experience in Clearing Products & Correspondent Banking, and well versed in Cross Border Payments & International Clearing and Settlement Systems. His current role includes managing the Group Clearing Product as offered to Financial Institutions clients in all presence locations of Emirates NBD(ENBD), and group’s Nostro relationship as part of his Network Management responsibilities. Prior to joining ENBD, Saravana was associated First Abu Dhabi Bank, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), managing the clearing product and offshore USD/EUR clearing system. Before moving to Dubai, Saravana also worked with banks in Germany and India, managing the High Value Payment Business, and carries deep understanding and experience in managing the risks associated with cross border payment business. Saravana holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce graduated from India.

November 19, 2020 - Thursday
Alale Allal
Alale Allal
Regional Trade Finance Manager - Office of International Trade
U.S. Small Business Administration

Alale Allal serves as the Export Finance Director, Southeast Region f or the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of International Trade covering the Southeast Region of the U.S. he oversees a team of Export Finance Managers, that are tasked with meeting the daily demands of the small business export community. He is responsible for ensuring the overall success of his defined region which includes helping small businesses to grow their export sales. Mr. Allal is also responsible for coordinating efforts with State and County officials to ensure SBA meeting the needs of the community.

Brian Anderson
Brian Anderson
Vice President, International Banking
Finzley

Brian Anderson is Vice President, International Banking Development at Finzly. Brian has spent his career introducing innovative fintech solutions to International Bankers in Global Payments, Foreign Exchange and Trade Finance. With over 30 years’ experience in business development and product management at financial technology companies like Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, and Finzly, Brian brings deep domain expertise in foreign exchange, international and domestic payments, treasury management, trade finance and other markets.

Mencia Bobo
Mencia Bobo
Managing Director. Global Head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions
Banco Santander SA

With more than 14 years’ experience in the financial sector, Mencia has held several positions in Global Debt Finance (GDF), Risk Division and Global Transaction Banking (GTB) since she joined Santander Corporate & Investment Banking in 2006. She joined Santander in 2006 as a member of the Global Project Finance Group, where she led complex structured transactions across different geographies and industries. In 2010, she moved to the Risk division, as Director of Structured Finance, becoming responsible, at a global level, for the Infrastructure and Natural Resources sector.

Marcos Cameron
Marcos Cameron
ISO 20022 Global Program Expert
SWIFT

Marcos is Global SPOC (single point of contact) on the Go To Market team at SWIFT, based in New York. He supports global adoption of the ISO 20022 Cross Border Payments and Reporting messages as part of SWIFT’s ISO Adoption Programme. Marcos works closely with banks and other financial institutions, promoting and supporting innovation of the end user’s payment experience, harmonizing systems/schemes and refining efficiency of operations. All with the goal of helping to achieve the SWIFT Strategy of Fast and Frictionless Payments.

David Cooperman
David Cooperman
Managing Director, Business Consulting Financial Services
EY

David is an advisor to banks and Managing Director in EY’s Financial Services Organization based in Chicago. At EY he leads their Trade Finance and Working Capital Finance practice in North America as well as EY’s Trade Automation Platform solution. David is has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry, primarily in Transaction Banking, including developing new innovative growth strategies, achieving revenue growth, improving efficiencies, deploying leading-edge technology and leading large-scale global transformation programs. He recently led EY’s Trade Finance and Working Capital Finance practice in North America. Previously he held global executive roles in at Citibank and ABN AMRO/LaSalle Bank as well as consulting firms advising the sector. He has served as a Director of bank subsidiaries focused on Trade and was a Founder / Director of the Trade Information Network, an industry consortium designed to improve small to medium-sized enterprise access to funding.

Patrick DeVilbiss
Patrick DeVilbiss
Senior Offering Manager, Trade and Supply Chain Solutions
CGI

Patrick DeVilbiss is a subject matter expert in trade finance and oversees product management of CGI Trade360, a SaaS-based end-to-end trade finance platform utilized by global financial institutions to deliver trade services. He has supported the development of large-scale platforms delivered to top 10 global financial institutions in the trade finance space. Previously he worked for the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade, where he helped to position the transaction banking industry for long-term growth and success by developing best practices and delivering education and training to member institutions.

Jame DiBlasio
Jame DiBlasio
Founder and Editor
DigFin
Louise Taylor-Digby
Louise Taylor-Digby
Head of Trade Strategy
SWIFT

Louise joined SWIFT in Singapore in 2019 and is responsible for Global Trade Strategy; she collaborates across the Trade eco system to diagnose industry challenges, and reshape the landscape. Louise has over 15 years’ experience in Financial Services, gained across 3 continents, in disciplines including Business Development, Strategy and Leadership. She joined SWIFT from Barclays Bank, where she most recently served as Head of The Financial Institutions Group (FIG), Asia Pacific. Prior to moving to Asia, she held a number of positions at Barclays including Head of Global Client Solutions consulting senior management, on the strategic ramifications of structural and regulatory reform.

Stacey Facter
Stacey Facter
Senior Vice President, Trade Products
BAFT

Stacey Facter has been Senior Vice President for Trade Products at BAFT for the last six years. Ms. Facter is responsible for managing all the Association’s activities related to trade products and serves as the primary subject matter expert for trade issues, overseeing and managing BAFT’s trade councils, committees and working groups and helps members develop guidance tools for the trade industry. Ms. Facter serves as a public spokesperson for the organization to stakeholders, regulators and policy makers on industry matters affecting the international trade finance community and is BAFT’s primary technical resource for trade related education and training.Ms. Facter has more than twenty-five years of experience in international banking, including over twenty years with JP Morgan Chase Bank, covering emerging markets, international trade finance, cash and risk management, and securities collateral management.

Graham P Finding
Graham P Finding
Global Head of Business Financial Crime Risk, Global Trade & Receivables Finance
HSBC

Graham Finding is based out of the UK, and is currently Global Head of Business Financial Crime Risk in HSBCs Global Trade & receivables Finance business. He has over 36 years’ experience in the banking industry working in Internal Audit, Operational Risk, International Operations and Trade Finance. He is also Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce Financial Crime & Policy Group and a member of the ICC/BAFT/Wolfsberg Trade Finance Principles Working Group.

Normand Girard, CDCS
Normand Girard, CDCS
Director, Global Trade Operations, BMO Financial Group
Chair, BAFT Commercial Letters of Credit Committee

Normand Girard is Director, Global Trade Operations for BMO. He is responsible for the Bank’s processing of all trade finance products in North America and Europe as well as process oversight in Asia. Mr. Girard has 35 years of experience in Global Trade Operations at BMO. During his career with the Bank, he has covered every role in Import, Export, Standby Letters of Credit and Collections as well as integral operations leadership roles throughout the evolution of BMO’s trade finance business. He has been Chair of the BAFT Southeast Committee from 2011 to 2017. He is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and currently Chair of the BAFT National Commercial Letter of Credit Committee since 2017.

Jake Jacobson
Jake Jacobson
Partner
Ernst & Young

Jake Jacobson is practice leader commercial, corporate, and small business banking technology. Working with our world class CCSB business, strategy, and process experts EY is helping banks modernize and innovate around corporate lending, treasury and cash management, payments, trade, and supply chain. Jake joined EY in 2014, before that he was a director of strategy at IBM. Jake earned a BS in finance from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Joshua Kroeker
Joshua Kroeker
Chief Product Officer
Contour

Josh Kroeker is the Chief Product Officer of Contour, a network to lead a global adoption of blockchain-based trade solutions. Josh has 15 years of experience in Hong Kong and Canada in senior positions across trade finance business development, learning and development, trade finance product management and corporate banking innovation at HSBC, one of the world’s leading trade finance banks. Josh’s passion is to increase the accessibility of trade finance through technology and has been involved in a majority of the industry’s trade digitisation efforts in the past decade, particularly in regards to traditional trade products. Most recently he has led a global innovation team pioneering the use of blockchain to provide a breakthrough for trade and trade finance, a notoriously difficult to change industry.

Oswald Kuyler
Oswald Kuyler
Head of Strategy
MonetaGo

Oswald Kuyler is the Head of Strategy Europe for Monetago, the world's foremost fraud prevention technology provider to prevent domestic and cross-border duplicate financing. Kuyler currently holds multiple advisory positions on the international stage. Digital Standards Adviser role to the International Chamber of Commerce UK. Adviser to the International Chamber of Commerce Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) Governance Board. Kuyler has also joined the MineHub Board of Advisors. A technologist focused on accelerating the digitization of trade. Driven by the opportunity for the financial services ecosystem to service more customers as digitization produces more efficiencies, products and risk mitigations.”

Alexander Malaket
Alexander Malaket
President
OPUS Advisory Services International Inc.

Alexander R. Malaket, CITP, is the President of OPUS Advisory Services International Inc., in Canada, and Founder and Managing Director of Trade Finance Associates Pte in Singapore. Mr. Malaket is recognized internationally as a specialist and senior consultant in international trade and trade finance, having advised top-tier financial services, corporate, government and international institution clients across the globe, and having developed and delivered a variety of training seminars on an international basis. Mr. Malaket serves as a member of the Executive Committee and Technical Advisor to the ICC Banking Commission in Paris, as Secretary/Treasurer of the World Trade Centre in Winnipeg and is a long-time member of the Toronto Regional Board of Trade/World Trade Centre, as well as a member of the SWIFT/ICC Industry Education Group on the Bank Payment Obligation. Alexander is a member of the Board of Directors of the Forum for International Trade Training, Ottawa, Canada. Alexander is the author of “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains”, published by Gower/Ashgate UK.

Steve Nichols
Steve Nichols
Asia Representative
BAFT

Mr. Steve Nichols is the BAFT Representative for Asia. Based in Signapore, he is responsible for growing the BAFT transaction banking community in Asia. Formerly an executive vice president and head of Global Trade Services for the Wells Fargo International Group (IG)., he was responsible for setting and implementing the overall trade strategy and direction for trade activities and ensuring that Wells Fargo trade businesses and initiatives are synchronized as an integrated business.

Gwynne Master
Gwynne Master
Managing Director & Head of Lending, Trade and Working Capital Product & Sales, CIB
Lloyds Banking Group

Gwynne joined Lloyds Banking Group in Feb 2018 to lead the Global Transaction Banking (GTB) Financial Institutions (FI) and NBFI Sales teams. Gwynne was then asked to lead the GTB Global Trade business, which included Open Account and Traditional Trade Product, Solutions and Sales across SME, Mid-Caps, Large Corporates and FIs. In 2021 Gwynne took on the role as Head of Working Capital within Client Products, responsible for the suite of Invoice Financing solutions in addition to Trade Finance. Effective June 2022, she became CIB of Head of Trade, Lending and Working Capital Solutions & Sales. Gwynne has significant International experience through her time with Barclays Bank, Wells Fargo and SCB. She spent 18 years in Asia, as Managing Director, Head of Asia FI and Co-Head of Asia Corporate with Barclays as well as CEO & MD of Southeast Asia for Wachovia Bank, when she acquired the Hanoi business and was responsible for six offices in the region. In her earlier career with Wachovia (Well Fargo), Gwynne was based in the both the U.S. and Italy, opening the Milan Office and leading Coverage & Sales across some of the Southern Europe markets. In addition to her current role as Managing Director & Head of Lending, Trade and Working Capital, Gwynne is a passionate advocate and driver of diversity and sustainability initiatives across the organisation and has developed relationships with a number of FinTech's within this space – championing partnerships and pilots to address sustainable supply chain finance, mapping and risk mitigation, as well as carbon scoring to support UK corporates with Scope 3 emissions reduction. She is engaged across industry bodies such as UKEF, ITFA and BAFT, representing Lloyds Bank.

Mike Parra
Mike Parra
CEO, Americas
DHL Express

Mike A. Parra, CEO of DHL Express Americas, is responsible for the management of DHL Express business activities in over 55 countries and territories across the Americas, which includes the company's presence in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Mike joined DHL in 1997 as a Service Center Manager in South Florida and quickly progressed within the DHL organization in leadership roles within the U.S. and Americas Region. Before his most recent appointment in 2016 as CEO of DHL Express Americas, Mike served for nearly three years as CEO of DHL Express in the U.S. He has also served as Senior VP of Network Operations for the Americas Region and Senior VP & Area General Manager, Western U.S. Before his career at DHL, Mike worked for ten years with TNT Express Worldwide.

Martin Schlageter
Martin Schlageter
Head of Treasury Operations
Roche
Daniel J. Pische
Daniel J. Pische
National Director of Trade Finance , Office of International Trade
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

Daniel Pische serves as the National Director of Trade Finance within the SBA’s Office of International Trade in Washington, DC. As Director, Daniel is responsible for the design and delivery of SBA’s export loan programs and oversight of SBA’s national staff of Export Finance Managers. Prior to joining the SBA, Daniel worked at First American Bank for over 15 years where he led their Trade Finance Division and served as a member of the bank’s Senior Loan Committee. Daniel served on Department of Commerce’s Trade Finance Advisory Council during the second charter term and continues to serve as the SBA’s ex-officio representative where he assists with recommendations on improving access to Trade Finance for small and midsized exporters.

David Sena
David Sena
Senior Vice President, Office of Board Authorized Finance (OBAF)
Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM)

David M. Sena joined the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) in 2001 in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. He served as Vice President, Treasurer before being named Chief Financial Officer in 2012. In October 2017, Mr. Sena was named the Senior Vice President of the Office of Board Authorized Finance (OBAF). OBAF is responsible for transactions underwritten for presentation to the Board of Directors and typically include medium-and long-term transactions above $10 million.

Kristine Siebel
Kristine Siebel
Past Chair BAFT Standby & Guarantee Committee
BAFT

Ms. Kristine Siebel retired in 2022 after 45 years in the Letter of Credit world. At retirement she was a Vice President at Societe Generale in their Trade Finance Group, previously she had been a Senior Credit Officer for Royal Bank of Canada responsible for their Captive Reinsurance Business in New York. Prior to joining RBC, Ms. Siebel was Assistant Vice President and Standby Letter of Credit Risk Officer for JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York. Ms. Siebel began her career in Trade Services with JPMorgan Chase’s predecessor bank Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. Ms. Siebel has extensive experience in both the issuance and the risk aspects of Standby Letters of Credit. She has been a member of the BAFT North American Standby Letter of Credit Committee since its inception in 1994 and was the Chair of the committee until her retirement. At this time she is also an Honorary Member of BAFT.

Marc Smith
Marc Smith
CEO
Conpend

Marc Smith is a Financial Services Consulting and Technology Entrepreneur and founder of Conpend. He has specialised himself in the execution of strategic change in Trade Finance using technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and DLT. His current focus is on digitalisation and automation of the Trade Finance processes covering compliance, TBML and examination of documentary credits according to the ICC rules.

Edward Stoltenberg, ACAMS
Edward Stoltenberg, ACAMS
Director, Trade Working Capital Finance Solutions
Citi

Edward Stoltenberg is a Director for Treasury and Trade Solutions, Global AML Risk, serving as an AML resource to the Trade Business. In his current role, he is responsible for all AML aspects of the Trade AML program, working with stakeholders across the three lines of defense. Mr. Stoltenberg was selected to lead the embedding of machine learning into operations processes to detect Trade Based Money Laundering, and Sanctions red flags. Due to the successes of the before mentioned, Mr. Stoltenberg embarked on several exploratory projects to implement machine learning in areas such as vessel behavior and Military Dual Use goods. Mr. Stoltenberg joined Citi in 2014, leading Citi’s Horizontal AML Risk Assessments, conducting reviews in areas of higher AML risk, including Trade Finance. Prior to his work in financial services, Mr. Stoltenberg served as an Armor/Cavalry Officer in the United States Army.

David Vidal
David Vidal
Managing Director
Development Finance Corporation

David J. Vidal holds the position of Managing Director in the Defense Production Act Program (DPA) at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. In his role, Mr. Vidal manages the origination and underwriting of transactions within the Life Science and Pharmaceutical Industry practice in the DPA Program. The DPA Program is focused on financing projects that expand domestic manufacturing capacity for U.S. supply chains, with a focus on COVID-19 investments. Prior to his role at DFC, Mr. Vidal served as Head of International Trade Finance at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), where he led SBA’s nationwide trade finance program. Mr. Vidal also led various international initiatives and served as a U.S. Delegate for the United States-Mexico-Canada International Trade Agreement (USMCA) while at SBA.

November 20, 2020 - Friday
Naomi Camper
Naomi Camper
Chief Policy Officer
American Bankers Association

Naomi Gendler Camper is Chief Policy Officer at the American Bankers Association. In this role, she leads the ABA’s policy and advocacy functions, including government relations, regulatory policy and compliance, economic research and the office of strategic engagement. Her division also includes specialized groups, such as the Card Policy Council and the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade. Prior to joining the ABA in June of 2018, Naomi spent 13 years as a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase in a variety of roles. As head of federal government relations from 2005 to 2012, Naomi was responsible for leading and expanding the firm’s engagement with Capitol Hill and the Administration during a time of significant change to the banking policy and regulatory landscape. She also served as head of consumer public policy and ran JPMorgan Chase’s Office of Nonprofit Engagement.

Christine Dirringer
Christine Dirringer
Managing Director & Head of Commodity Structured Debt, North America
BNP Paribas

Christine Dirringer is the Head of Energy & Asset Based Structured Debt at BNP Paribas, overseeing the combination of two structured debt product platforms, Energy Structured Debt (ESD) and Asset Based Lending (ABL). ESD is a product group focused on the structuring of bank debt for commodity (namely energy) marketing companies and hybrid commodity marketing/midstream companies. BNP has a leading market position in this sector and Christine came up through this platform at BNP. Christine joined BNP’s commodity finance group in 2007 and after a stint as a Team Leader, ultimately assumed the role of Head of Commodity Structured Debt (now ESD) in 2017. She took on oversight of BNP’s rapidly growing ABL platform in 2020.

Lisa Frazier
Lisa Frazier
Chief Innovation Officer
Wells Fargo

Lisa Frazier is the head of Wells Fargo’s Innovation Group, an enterprise-wide organization devoted to accelerating the company’s delivery of next-generation, customer-inspired technologies, products, and services. The Innovation Group leads programs in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), research and development (R&D) in new technologies, the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, and Greenhouse℠ by Wells Fargo, a mobile-first banking experience geared toward improving financial health and planning to customers who need it, like students or others who are new to banking, or those who are paid irregularly.

Patricia Gomes
Patricia Gomes
Executive Vice President
Head of Global Trade Receivables Finance, North America
HSBC Bank

Ms. Patricia Gomes is Head of Global Trade and Receivables Finance (GTRF), North America for HSBC. In this role, she is responsible for leading and managing the GTRF business across Commercial banking and Global Banking clients. With 20 years of experience in banking, Ms. Gomes joined GTRF from the Financial Institute Group (FIG), where she was Head of North America. She has worked for HSBC since 2004 in a variety of roles in London, Hong Kong and New York. Prior to joining HSBC, Ms. Gomes worked with Citigroup, in Financial Institutions coverage and Credit Risk Management in both London and Lisbon.

Nicole Meyer
Nicole Meyer
Founder & Managing Partner
The Meyer Partnership

Nicole has over thirty years’ experience in banking and executive recruitment. She spent most of her career at Citibank, in her last role as Managing Director, North American Financial Institutions Cash Management Sales Head. At Citibank, Nicole’s roles ranged from Business Development and Sales Leadership to Implementation Head for e-Banking Solutions to North American Cash & Trade Six Sigma Process Reengineering Lead. Prior to Citibank, Nicole worked for The First National Bank of Chicago and Shawmut Bank, in client-facing roles. She started her career in sales at Xerox Corporation. Nicole’s search experience includes hiring senior-level executives for roles ranging from the Global Head of Transaction Banking, to the Global Head of Payments, to Heads of Regions and Countries, Heads of Product, Sales, and Service, and Heads of Operational Risk. Her expertise is in the areas of B2B Payments and Liquidity, Digital Banking, Trade/Working Capital/Supply Chain Finance, and Corporate and Commercial Banking. Nicole began her head-hunting career in 2007 at The Rose Partnership in London as Head of the Corporate and Transaction Banking Practice.

Rhona O’Connell
Rhona O’Connell
Head of Market Analysis EMEA & Asia
StoneX Group

Rhona O’Connell joined the London office of StoneX in April 2019 to set up a team of analysts covering the metals markets, crude oil and products, and part of the softs and agricultural sector, to complement the existing teams in the Americas, Ireland and the Far East. She has over 35 years’ experience as a metals markets analyst and is a recognised authority in the precious metals sector. She has worked in a number of aspects of the industry, including the mining sector, commodities broking at Rudolf Wolff where she was a major contributor to Wolff’s Guide to the London Metal Exchange, and in the equity markets and investment banking. In the latter role she was the Group Precious Metals analyst at Shearson Lehman, where she responsible for advising or supporting a range of market participants from trading through equities to corporate finance.

Alexander Peters
Alexander Peters
Executive Directors
Arrow Metals Trading

Alexander Peters, executive director with 27 years of experience in financial leadership roles covering M&A, debt capital markets, trade & structured finance, corporate finance, financial reporting, commodity risk management encompassing oil & gas (upstream, midstream, downstream) as well as metals & mining sector. Highly specialized in high growth and turnaround commodity business with strong focus on emerging markets.

Diana Rodriguez
Diana Rodriguez
Vice President, International Policy
BAFT

Diana Rodriguez is Vice President, International Policy at BAFT where she leads the association's global government relations strategy, focusing on prudential, regulatory and global trade policy matters. Her portfolio includes Basel III implementation, Libor transition, and U.S. trade policy. She coordinates joint advocacy with partner trade associations and other global stakeholders to advance BAFT policy priorities. Prior to joining BAFT, Diana served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor for International Trade at the U.S. Small Business Administration. There, she advised the SBA Administrator on a global portfolio of trade policy and trade finance matters, and oversaw the Agency’s global entrepreneurship promotion efforts in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Before that, she served as a Director in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s International Affairs Division leading trade policy efforts in Mexico.

Marc Singer
Marc Singer
Senior Partner
McKinsey & Company

Marc Singer is a leader of the McKinsey Digital Practice, focused on helping clients identify digital and omni channel opportunities for growth and performance improvement to translate into sustained growth. He serves leaders in a variety of consumer-facing businesses, including financial services, retail, media, telecommunications, and technology companies that sell into these vertical markets. In particular, Marc works with companies to set strategic direction and act on multifaceted, technical, operational, and organizational changes necessary to become more competitive. Recently, Marc worked with a travel provider to understand and act on the way shopping and buying in the category continues to be transformed by digital channels, with actions including reallocating marketing spend and building digital and analytics capabilities to acquire customers more effectively. In addition, he helped a leading consumer-goods company design and implement a modern marketing organization with appropriate digital, analytics, and agency-management capabilities. He also supported a digital music-subscription business with competitive strategy subscriber growth and retention.

Nicole Verkindt
Nicole Verkindt
CEO
Director, Sustainalytics
OMX

Nicole Verkindt is the Founder & CEO of Canadian technology company, OMX (theomx.com). OMX is a global procurement platform specialized in driving socio-economic returns. The platform helps to increase and measure local spend/socio-economic impacts, including ESGs and other sustainability metrics. Previously, she led a global, high tech manufacturing business. Nicole is on the Board of the Canadian Federal Crown Corporation, CCC (Canadian Commercial Corporation) that performs government to government contracts between Canada and other countries around the world. She is a frequent technology commentator on CBC and technology columnist. She was a “Dragon” on CBC’s Next Gen Dragon’s Den, dedicated to early stage technology businesses and was an investor on Gimlet media’s show “The Pitch”. She was named Start Up Canada’s national woman entrepreneur of the year in 2017 and received the Canadian Advanced Technology Peter Brojde award for Next Generation leadership. She is on the board of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a Next Gen member of the Business Council of Canada, as well as Co-Chair of the BCC’s Task Force on Canada’s Economic Growth. In 2019, she was named StartUp Canada’s Woman Ambassador of the year as well as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40.

Normand D’Arcy
Senior Manager
International Services for National Bank of Canada

Normand D’Arcy is Senior Manager, International Services for National Bank of Canada. He is responsible for the Bank’s international products. He also oversees the evolution of international trade and supply chain financing. Mr. D’Arcy has been working in banking for more than 20 years, covering trade finance, international operations and strategy, as well as international payments.

FAQ's

How do I join the virtual event?

To join the virtual event, simply log in at http://internationalconvention.baft.org/ using the email you used to register for the event.

FYI: The URL is not live at the moment. It will be available once the platform is launched at the beginning of November.

What should I expect as part of this virtual event?

We are excited to offer a variety of session types and topics plus networking activities, including bilateral meetings during this event. See below for features you can take advantage of as part of this event.

  • 24/7 access to the platform for the entire month of November. All platform features and functionality, including use of 1:1 video calls and 1:small group video meeting rooms and virtual booths are available for you to use anytime.
  • 2.5 hours of live sessions daily during the week of the convention – Monday, November 16 – Friday, November 20 from 9:00AM ET – 11:30AM ET.
  • On-demand sessions available anytime for the entire month of November. Recordings of live sessions will be added to the On-Demand page once the live sessions conclude.
  • Special live workshops and a dedicated trade track for deeper dive discussions will be offered during the week of the convention for trade specialists and practitioners.
  • Connect and request meetings with attendees via text chat and 1:1 video calls.
  • Host bilateral meetings via 1:small group video meeting rooms.
  • ‘Ask the Expert’ forums on different topics are scheduled throughout the week of the convention. It’s your opportunity to ask speakers and subject matter experts your pressing questions.
  • Special networking and social activities are planned throughout the week of the convention.
  • Virtual sponsor booths, stop by for a 1:1 video call or even a 1:small group video conversation

Will I be able to schedule bilateral meetings during the Convention?

You certainly can! The platform offers the capability for you to host virtual bilateral meeting rooms where you can do a video call with one, two or a small group of colleagues, clients or prospects. And with the platform open 24/7 for the entire month of November, you can use this feature before, during and after the official week of the convention.

What are the system requirements of the virtual platform?

For optimal experience, we strongly recommend accessing our virtual event platform via Chrome. If you are accessing the event via an IOS device (iPhone, iPad), please use Safari.

  • For specifically, to watch the live sessions, you need to have at least E11 on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1+ or any other modern browser Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera, as well as Android Chrome and iOS Safari
  • To use 1 to 1 (and 1 to many) video rooms, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera, as well as Android Chrome and iOS Safari. Note: Edge is limited to 1-on-1 calls. No IE. Although we offer dial in option with 30+ local phone numbers
  • To use delegate messaging system you need to have at least IE11 or any other modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera, as well as Android Chrome and iOS Safari

Bottom-line, if you use Chrome, you should be able to access the virtual event platform with no issues. We highly encourage everyone to test your system ahead of time.

How do I know if my device meets the system requirements?

We encourage you to test your system connection ahead of time. Please use the link below to test your system now. Test your connection here: Test Connection. For additional assistance, please contact Gary Coates.

Do I need to download anything?

No, there is nothing to download. You simply join the virtual event by clicking on the URL link http://internationalconvention.baft.org/ and sign in using the email you used to register for the event.

FYI: The URL is not live at the moment. It will be available once platform is launched at the beginning of November.

Will you email me information about logging in and who can help me if I have issues?

Once registered, you can log in using your name and email address you used to register for the event. If you have questions or need further assistance, you can contact [email protected] about your registration or ask the ‘support’ assistant on the platform for technical assistance.

What if I cannot attend the sessions live? Am I able to watch later?

All sessions (with signed releases from speakers) will be recorded and available on-demand to all registered attendees via the virtual event platform. You can visit the On-Demand page at any time or click the Agenda page then search for the session to watch it on-demand. An email will be sent to all attendees once recordings from the live sessions are available.

What if my institution or company doesn’t allow me to access the platform?

Please test ahead of time to ensure you can join the virtual event. You can test your system from the link below. Test your connection here: Test Connection. For technical assistance, please contact Gary Coates.

Will I be able to talk face-to-face with fellow attendees?

Yes, each attendee has a 1:1 video call functionality. Visit the Attendee directory, and you can choose to send a text message or connect with the attendee directly via a video call.

Will I be able to speak with the other attendees? Will other attendees be able to see me?

You can connect with attendees before, during and after the event. Simply click the Attendee Directory, and you can video call, search, message, exchange contact details or arrange meeting times with fellow attendees.

With the 1:1 video call functionality, you will be able to see your fellow attendee and they will see you as well.

What’s the difference between Group Rate and the Bring the Bank/Company Rate?

The group registration rate is for 5 or more individuals from the same institution. Each attendee receives a $100 USD discount off the member price. The group rate is only available to BAFT members, and must have 5 full-priced individual registrations to quality.

The Bring the Bank/Company rate offers any institution or company (regardless of BAFT membership) to bring an unlimited number of their colleagues to attend the virtual event for a flat fee of $9000 USD. With the platform open 24/7 for the full month of November and no travel expenses incurred, this is the perfect opportunity to invite your colleagues from other departments and geographic locations to participate.

Will you go back to an in-person event next year?

For the safety of our members, speakers and attendees, we are currently only offering virtual events. As the situation improves, we will re-evaluate the best medium – in-person or virtual, to offer our BAFT events going forward. Please check baft.org/events for the latest updates on our conference and event offerings

For sponsorship opportunities on various BAFT Conferences and events, contact Matt Kaitz at [email protected] or check our sponsorship page.

Continuing Professional Development

One of our aims as we pivot our in-person events to virtual is to create an optimal platform for networking with colleagues, clients (current and prospective) and peers, while also providing educational opportunities for continuing professional development to earn CPDs for numerous certifications including CDCS®.

We are pleased to offer attendees to BAFT’s 2020 Virtual International Convention a variety of CPDs for participation in the program’s live sessions from BAFT, The ICC Academy and The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF).

Attendees are eligible to receive 2.5 CPDs per day with a maximum amount of 12.5 CPD hours available for attending the entirety of the 2020 Virtual International Convention. Attendees will receive a certificate of participation upon request following the conclusion of the convention to present to the relevant awarding institution. Certificates of participation will be allotted based on the number of active days a registrant attended the live sessions, e.g. 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 or 12.5.

Please note participation is actively monitored and CPDs are only available for attending the program’s live sessions. CPDs are not available for attendees who view pre-conference or post-conference on-demand recordings. Please contact [email protected] with any inquiries.

Awarding Institution Certification CPDs Available
BAFT Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS®) 12.5 CPDs (2.5 per day)
ICC Academy Certified Trade Finance Professional (CTFP) 12.5 CPDs (2.5 per day)
ICC Academy Global Trade Certificate (GTC) 12.5 CPDs (2.5 per day)
The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) Certificate in International Trade and Finance (CITF) 12.5 CPDs (2.5 per day)
The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) Certificate for Specialist in Demand Guarantees (CSDG) 12.5 CPDs (2.5 per day)
The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) Certificate in Supply Chain Finance (CSCF) 12.5 CPDs (2.5 per day)
The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) Certificate in Trade Finance Compliance (CTFC) 12.5 CPDs (2.5 per day)

Click below to access this event’s Virtual Platform.

Access Virtual Platform