Jacob Atkins

HSBC has appointed Kai Fehr as head of Europe and Ajit Menon as head of the Americas in its Global Trade Solutions unit, after Marissa Adams, who previously held both roles, left the bank. In addition to their regional leadership duties, both Fehr and Menon will have joint global responsibility for the trade division’s industry groups, according to an internal memo seen by GTR. Fehr will cover institutional…

A typewritten two-page document that spent more than 30 years filed away in an Illinois government department is partly to blame for jitters among US banks and their clients over the security offered by standby letters of credit (SBLCs). SBLCs are widely used as security for contracts and lending in the US, including by banks,…

Law firm Mayer Brown has taken on trade and export finance lawyer James Clarke as a partner. Clarke joined the firm’s finance practice in London on August 13 from Baker McKenzie, where he had been a senior associate. Clarke specialises in emerging markets, advising on export and agency finance, structured commodity finance and receivables finance,…

Banks are benefitting from higher demand for trade lending, a GTR review of half-year earnings suggests, although there are signs of weakening in the Middle East after months of disruption to shipping and supply chains. Several lenders in Europe and Singapore reported higher trade loan volumes, continuing a trend apparent from last year’s full-year earnings…

Trade finance fintech Komgo has made Tim-Emilien Tran Ngoc managing director for Asia Pacific. Tran Ngoc, previously global head of business development and marketing, has relocated to Singapore for the role. He reports to Baptiste Audren, Komgo’s chief revenue officer. Tran Ngoc will lead the company’s strategy and operations in Asia, Komgd osaid, “with a…

Singapore lawyer Zhi Chao Chor has joined the finance practice of Stephenson Harwood as a partner. Chor made the move this month from Pennington Manches Cooper, which he had joined in May last year. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval. He advises lenders and sponsors on areas including structured commodity and trade finance, sustainability-linked…

Prateek Gupta was convicted of forgery offences by a Dubai court in 2024 over his role in a more than half-a-billion-dollar nickel trading fraud against Trafigura, but later acquitted on appeal, court documents show. Trafigura sued Gupta in London in 2023, alleging he was behind a fraudulent transit finance scheme that cost it more than…

Baft (the Bankers’ Association for Finance and Trade) has named Alexander Malaket as its head of trade following the retirement of Craig Weeks. Malaket took on the role last month, the Washington-based transaction banking industry association said. Throughout Malaket’s more than 35-year career in trade, he has worked in advisory and board roles with a…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has paid a record dividend to shareholders as the multilateral lender reported its biggest-ever half-year profit. Cairo-headquartered Afreximbank posted a US$534.7mn profit for the first six months of the year, the bank said last week, a 30% improvement on the first half of 2025. Earnings were buoyed by a 22%…

Law firm Mayer Brown has added structured finance specialist Michelle Herman to its global trade finance practice in New York. Herman has experience advising borrowers and lenders on structures including trade receivables, commercial loans and instalment sales contracts, Mayer Brown said in a statement. She has particular expertise in trade receivables securitisations and the “bankruptcy,…