Events

Michael Evan Avidon is Senior Counsel at Moses & Singer LLP, after 36+ years as a Partner there.  He Co-Chairs its Banking & Finance Practice Group.  He is widely recognized for his knowledge of letters of credit (LCs), lending, and secured transactions.  Mike handles secured and unsecured lending; agented and bilateral deals; trade finance and supply chain finance, including discounting, receivables purchases, and payables agreements; loan agreements, LC reimbursement agreements, security agreements, guarantees, and participation agreements; electronic contracting, outsourcing, and white label agreements; and LC disputes and litigation.  His work involves standby, direct pay, and commercial LCs, and demand guarantees.  His clients include money center banks, smaller banks, and other financial institutions.

Lisa Chin is a Director and the Global AML Head of Trade Finance for MUFG Bank, Ltd. since 2019. She started her trade career as an import letter of credit processor for American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago. Surviving a number of mergers that ended up as JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, she held various roles in trade operations for 18 years until she moved into an AML/KYC role supporting trade finance and escrow. In 2015, she moved to HSBC Bank as Senior Vice President and the U.S. Head of AML Compliance for Trade Finance, where she managed an advisory team supporting the Trade Finance department. Lisa is a member of the BAFT National Letter of Credit Committee and the co-Chair of the BAFT Trade Compliance Committee. She obtained her CDCS in 1999 and has since remained certified. Currently, she and her team are working on a project to standardize AML processes in MUFG’s 31 trade offices around the world.

Mr. Frank Fortes is the Senior Trade Finance Expert, responsible to provide legal advice on complex trade finance transactions and training on Trade-based money laundering & sanctions. Mr. Fortes has 14 years of extensive experience in the Trade Finance industry that has been predominantly acquired during his tenure in France and Canada within the HSBC Group. Prior to joining the Toronto-Dominion Bank, he held various senior positions as Legal Counsel at HSBC France or Manager of the International Guarantees Unit of HSBC Canada. He holds a Master's Degree in International Business Law and is also CITF (Certificate in International Trade and Finance) and CSDG (Certificate for Specialists in Demand Guarantees) certified.

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.

Agnes Martinez is an accomplished professional currently serving as the Capital Markets - Trade Finance Operations Manager at City National Bank. She efficiently oversees the processing of trade finance products, including Letters of Credit, Documentary Collections, and Supply Chain Finance. Before joining City National Bank, Agnes made significant contributions to JPMorgan Chase bank as the Manager for their Global Trade Finance West Coast division. Her expertise and leadership skills played a pivotal role in driving the division's success. Agnes's exceptional abilities and dedication to the field have earned her recognition in the banking industry. She had the honor of chairing the BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade) West Coast region and now holds the position of Co-Chair of the BAFT Regional Committee. Agnes contributes to advancing and collaborating within the trade finance community through active involvement in these esteemed committees.

Ellen Muench is a Vice President and Trade Capital Markets Back Office Team Lead at Associated Bank with more than 25 years of banking experience, including Supervisory experience, System Administration, and 16 years in Trade Services. During her time supporting back-office operations, in addition to delivery of Letter of Credit, Documentary Collection and Capital Markets products her areas of expertise have included process review and refinement for efficiency and risk reduction, planning, testing and implementation of system integrations and upgrades, and preparing and conducting product education and group training sessions across lines of business. She is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and a member of the BAFT Southeast and Central Regional Subcommittees and the Standby Letter of Credit/Guarantee and Commercial Letter of Credit National Committees.

Fiore (Frank) Petrassi is Global Product Manager for Standby Letters of Credit and Guarantees with JPMorgan Chase responsible managing and growing the global Standby Letter of Credit and Guarantee offering to the JPMorgan client base for all lines of business. Frank is a long standing member of the BAFT Trade Finance Committee and current Chair of the BAFT National Standby Letter of Credit/Guarantee Committee. He was former Chair of the BAFT North Central Standby Letter of Credit Committee and Co-chair of the IIBLP Government Mandated Letter of Credit Committee.

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.

David Tannenbaum started his career in sanctions compliance while serving at the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC), the U.S. agency in charge of administering economic sanctions. In his capacity at OFAC, he oversaw the analysis of blocked and rejected transactions, and provided sanctions advice to some of the world’s largest financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, and law firms. David created Blackstone Compliance Services, a company specializing in sanctions compliance, after joining the private sector in 2013. As the director of Blackstone, he served as the FRB-appointed independent consultant of a global financial institution and has led sanctions testing for three major monitorships on behalf of the US Department of Justice, Federal Reserve Board, New York Department of Financial Services, and foreign regulators such as the United Kingdom’s FCA and France’s APCR.