Ruaridh Guy has joined Squire Patton Boggs as a partner alongside two associates, Tina Wong and Lauras Rambinas.

The firm says the trio has expertise in shipping disputes including those relating to bills of lading, charterparties and collisions, and regularly work on commodities disputes and issues related to letters of credit and guarantees.

Guy has acted in arbitration and court proceedings in Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore and has also represented creditors and liquidators in insolvency matters.

Squire Patton Boggs’ Hong Kong office managing partner James Tsang says Guy “brings specialist litigation expertise to the firm and his wide-ranging client base will also create opportunities for our other practices in Hong Kong and across the Asia Pacific region”.

Guy arrives after a 13-year stint at Ince, while Wong and Rambinas joined the firm in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Ince has lost almost 20 lawyers from it shipping team over the past month, according to reports in the legal press, with two eight-strong teams departing for rival firms Hill Dickinson and Stephenson Harwood.

The firm says it operates independently from the UK’s 156-year-old Ince Group, which bought by law firm Axiom earlier this year. Last month the renamed Axiom Ince was shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority amid allegations client money was used to fund the acquisition.

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El Maayergi makes the switch from Arab African International Bank, where he served as group chief operating and transformation officer since 2020.

At Afreximbank, he replaces Amr Kamel, who worked at the bank for nearly three decades before retiring in November 2022.

Based in Cairo, El Maayergi is tasked with sourcing new transaction opportunities for Afreximbank and developing products for trade finance and syndications, as well as advisory and capital market services.

He will act as a liaison between Afreximbank’s president, Benedict Oramah, and the lender’s board of directors, stakeholders and investors, and is further tasked with mitigating risks in the global trade bank’s value chains.

In a career spanning over three decades, El Maayergi has also held senior transaction banking, corporate banking and trade finance roles at financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa, including Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered, Citi and Société Générale.

“El Maayergi boasts a long and proven track record of structuring innovative trade finance and bilateral lending solutions, including Islamic structures, for both multinational corporations and large local corporates,” Afreximbank says.

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The reshuffle brings together RMB’s transaction banking, trade and working capital, and payments businesses.

While trade finance and working capital loans were previously included with term lending under RMB’s investment banking division, they have now been repositioned to be more closely linked to the transaction banking business and better serve clients’ day-to-day banking requirements, the bank says.

The TTS business, headed up by Pienaar, sits alongside the bank’s investment banking and markets businesses. Pienaar previously led RMB’s corporate transaction banking business for the past 10 years.

Both Pienaar and du Plessis are based in Johannesburg.

Du Plessis, who reports to Pienaar, will focus on providing trade, supply chain and working capital solutions to RMB’s corporate and institutional client base. He is also responsible for growing the bank’s business in the major Africa trade corridors.

Du Plessis rejoined RMB in 2020 as head of trade finance in its debt and trade solutions division, after spending 18 months as managing director at Palladius Debt Solutions. He previously spent six years with the bank as trade and working capital head for financial institutions (FI) and non-bank FI segments, including trade risk distribution, insurance, escrow and the origination of trade funding.

“Repositioning our capabilities to be more aligned with client realities of managing complex supplier and buyer ecosystems will help us to further unlock value for our clients and RMB,” says Pienaar.

“Having our trade and working capital capabilities closer to transaction banking will benefit clients in the way we design solutions to meet their needs,” adds du Plessis.

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Selima Mehiri joins as head of trade and working capital for Apac and the Middle East, taking up the position this month. She reports to the bank’s global head of trade and working capital James Binns. 

Mehiri previously spent five years at UAE-based Rakbank, most recently as head of energy and natural resources, and has also held roles at Natixis in both Europe and the Middle East, as well as at ABN Amro and energy giant Total. 

Barclays says Mehiri has built a strong track record with several key institutions across both regions. 

Fatenah El Danab (pictured) has also been appointed head of trade and working capital for the Middle East, after the region’s previous trade head, Sereen Ahmed, took up the same role for the Americas. 

Reporting to Mehiri, El Danab joins after nearly seven years at Bank of America, where she held the position of director for Mena financial institutions and corporate trade sales. 

Dubai-based El Danab previously spent more than four years as an associate director at HSBC, and has held roles at QInvest, Global Investment House and Gulf Bank. She also chairs the Middle East regional committee at the International Trade and Forfaiting Association. 

She is tasked with boosting Barclays’ traditional trade and working capital solutions offerings in the region, as well as its export and agency finance business. 

Binns says: “We have a laser focus on supporting clients with their trade and working capital needs across our franchise as we continue to invest in our business and roll out a new trade platform.” 

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In recent months, Ben Grant has joined as commercial director and James Bowyer (pictured) has been appointed SaaS sales director.

Grant moved to Finverity after a seven-year stint at receivables finance specialist Aronova Interactive, where he had been leading commercial functions and partnerships. Prior to this, he held business development and sales roles at companies including Dun & Bradstreet, The Red Flag Group and Alternative Networks.

Bowyer made the switch to Finverity after nearly four years at tech-based working capital solutions provider Demica, where his more recent post was as associate director on the platform solutions team.

This month, Finverity announced the expansion of its FinverityOS system, which it says will now cover Islamic finance, purchase order finance, inventory finance and loans. Previously, the white label offering supported payables, receivables and distributor finance.

The expansion of FinverityOS is targeted at local and regional banks as well as non-bank financiers, enabling them to digitalise their operations and manage working capital and supply chain finance products all on one end-to-end system.

The system also includes a “create a deal” tool enabling lenders to produce and customise their own trade and supply finance products directly on FinverityOS.

“Bowyer’s remit focuses on expanding FinverityOS to ambitious but underappreciated local and regional financial institutions in new markets, including Eastern Europe, Nordics and the Middle East,” Finverity says in a statement.

Grant is tasked with crafting and implementing strategies aimed at driving Finverity’s expansion and developing a strong base of commercial partners.

Earlier this year, Finverity raised US$5mn in an equity funding round, which it said  would support the expansion of its trade and working capital products and allow the firm to open new offices in Dubai, Poland and Kenya.

In May, Starling Bank’s former head of SME banking, Symmie Swil, joined the company as head of operations.

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Qian will be based in Shanghai and reports to Benoit Ganzmann, Coface’s chief executive of the greater China region in Hong Kong.

Qian joined Coface in 2019 as the commercial director for China.

Previously, Qian spent four years co-founding fintech startups in credit management services and supply chain finance.

He also headed up Marsh’s China trade credit and political risk department, led the commercial team for China Pacific Insurance at Euler Hermes China for three years, and spent six years as credit and supply chain finance manager for Lenovo Group.

The post Coface names China country manager appeared first on Global Trade Review (GTR).

Varney joins as head of business development for the Americas, a New York-based role, after nearly 10 years at the US lender’s corporate and investment bank, where she held the position of senior vice-president and head of credit risk insurance. 

Varney previously spent three years as senior vice-president at Marsh and four years as vice-president at Willis Towers Watson, advising corporate clients on political risk and structured credit. She is also vice-chair of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association’s advisory board for the Americas. 

Bondaval, which uses technology to provide payment default protection, says Varney is expected to help the company continue its growth in the US and Canada and expand its reach into new industries. 

“Given her extensive background across underwriting, broking and purchasing credit insurance, we believe Lisa is uniquely placed to help grow Bondaval across the Americas,” says chief executive Tom Powell. 

Powell founded Bondaval in 2020 alongside chief underwriting officer Sam Damoussi. The company has 28 employees across Europe and North America and has raised more than US$25mn in funding. 

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Labbat reports to Tom Iorio, executive vice-president, management liability and specialty. She will be responsible for hiring a team of structured credit and political risk underwriters.

Previously, Labbat was the senior vice-president and global head of credit and political risk at Zurich, where she oversaw the growth strategy and performance of the global team.

Labbat has also been managing director at JP Morgan, with a focus on growing the bank’s global structured export finance products, and headed up export finance for BNP Paribas in the US and Canada. She worked at Citigroup as head of underwriting for a credit and political risk insurance subsidiary.

“There is increased demand in the market for solutions to growing credit relationships and exporting abroad,” says Iorio. “Nationwide sees this area as a good place to continue to grow our specialty business and a complement to our existing lines of business.”

“Labbat has extensive experience in credit markets and structured lending at top global financial institutions, with experience spanning a wide range of industries and countries, and an expertise in developing markets,” Iorio adds.

Nationwide says it plans to start writing credit and political risk business in early 2024.

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Harm will take the reins in March 2024, following a period as deputy secretary general beginning next month, during which he will work alongside outgoing chief Peter Mulroy. Mulroy announced last year that he would be stepping down from the role.

Harm will relocate to Amsterdam from Charlotte, where he has been chief operating officer for accounts and receivables platform Fintainium since November last year.

Before joining Fintainium, Harm was managing director, strategy, at Cit Commercial Services and prior to that spent 14 years in various trade, factoring and working capital roles at BB&T.

“Based on his vast experience, innovative approach and his professional life in factoring and SCF, I expect him to excel in his new role and take FCI to another level,” FCI chairman Daniela Bonzanini says of the appointment.

“I am delighted to see Neal as my successor,” Mulroy says. “Neal has tremendous experience in factoring, receivables and supply chain finance, including in the realm of technology.”

“He has a long history in FCI serving on various committees, has maintained his relationships with many members around the world, and has the executive management experience and strategic foresight to help lead the chain to new heights.”

Mulroy’s departure on February 29 will cap a 10-year stint as FCI’s secretary general, during which time the organisation’s membership expanded to almost 400 companies in around 90 countries.

In recent years FCI amended its rules to accommodate and promote sharia-compliant factoring and will launch a new factoring model law at its annual conference later this month.

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Todeschini started the new position on October 2 and will split his time between New York and Houston, reporting to ING’s global head of TCF Maarten Koning.   

He replaces Matt Rosetti, who was appointed ING’s head of sectors for the Americas in August.  

Todeschini has held various TCF roles at ING since joining the lender in São Paulo in 2010, most recently as head of TCF in the oil and gas hub of Houston. He previously worked for MUFG and Natixis.

Koning says: “This is an exciting time to lead ING’s commodity business in the Americas which continues to be a significant contributor to ING’s global TCF business and the Americas sectors platform. 

“With the appointment of Cauê we promote a home-grown talent to lead the TCF growth ambition in Americas. Cauê has worked for ING in three continents and has proven strong commercial skills and industry expertise.” 

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