Annual Trade Finance Compliance Conference

21 June 2023 – London

Annual Trade Finance Compliance Conference

Compliance in trade finance is an ever-evolving landscape – and for those working in it need to stay informed.

This year saw the return of our industry-leading Annual Trade Finance Compliance Conference in a face-to-face format. The conference focused on the key challenges in trade finance and the issues currently impacting the development and expansion of global trade. London, as a trade finance centre of excellence, was the ideal location and easily accessed by trade finance professionals from across the country.

Delegates heard from leading compliance experts, regulators and practitioners on the latest industry trends and topics, including:

  • landmark legal cases
  • compliance issues
  • sanctions updates
  • and financial technology to fight financial crime.

LIBF certificate holders and graduates, participants of past ATFFCs and IIBLP events, Coastline Solutions subscribers and members of any ICC National Committee qualify for a special members rate.

Delegates received 7 CPDs toward recertification of CDCS, CFTC, CSDG, and CSCF.

 

Photo gallery

Below is a selection of our photos from the Annual Trade Finance Compliance Conference 2023. You can download any of these photos directly from our Flickr album.

ATFCC 2023
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Earn 7 CPDs

Organisers

Sponsors

Media partners

Supporters

Conference speakers

pradipta-bose

Pradipta Bose
Executive Director
Trade & Working Capital
JP Morgan

todd-base

Todd Bose
Director
Regional CFCC Advisory
UK & Europe
Transaction Banking & Client Coverage
Standard Chartered Bank

neil-chantry

Neil Chantry
Specialist Consultant

david-cuckney

David Cuckney
Assistant Director
ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB)

Pradipta is currently the business platform owner of JP Morgan’s Core Trade processing platforms.

Working closely with product management, operations, technology and fintechs, Pradipta is responsible for driving the global strategic vision for the platforms leveraging industry movements and emerging technologies.

Pradipta has led the delivery of global trade platforms in multiple banks as a Product Owner, Senior Business Expert and Innovation Lead. He is an alumni of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Todd is regional lead for trade finance, digital channels and data analytics (DCDA) and sustainable finance within the UK and Europe conduct, financial crime and compliance (CFCC) advisory team at Standard Chartered Bank, London.

He was previously with the bank’s Singapore office where he held a similar focus within the Group Transaction Banking and DCDA CFCC Advisory team.

Todd brings many years of experience in risk and compliance roles having led various initiatives, built several monitoring frameworks, and contributed industry expertise in prior roles at Wells Fargo, SMBC, and Citibank.

Neil spent 43 years with the HSBC Group, half on their international management and half in the group head office in London specialising in trade finance. 

He retired at the end of 2015 as global head of policy and compliance, global trade and receivables finance. He is also the former head of the ICC Banking Commission Executive committee and chair of the Financial Crimes Compliance group, as well as the former chair of the Wolfsberg Group.

David joined the IMB in 2007 having previously worked in the Middle East in the oil and gas sector.

He assists in overseeing the daily operations of the IMB’s London activities. In addition to advising member banks with suspect or irregular presentations, he also co-ordinates with the IMB’s trading, shipping and insurance company members with regards to loss prevention and advice.

David has carried out investigations into several large-scale shipping and financial frauds, identifying those responsible and providing recommendations for improved working practices. He conducted several on the ground investigations into smuggling and cargo mis-declaration.

David has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars worldwide about documentary and insurance fraud, cargo theft and maritime sanctions.

derek ennis

Derek Ennis
Chief Executive Officer
Coastline Solutions

priya-giuliani

Priya Giuliani
Partner
Financial Crime
Fraud & Investigations Guidehouse UK

alex-gray

Alex Gray
Head of Trade and Transaction Banking
LIBF

oliver-grimes

Oliver Grimes
Partner
Avyse Partners

Derek Ennis is CEO of Coastline Solutions, the leading provider of online training and information resources to the trade and trade finance community worldwide. For over 20 years Coastline Solutions has provided online training in all of the traditional trade finance products including letters of credit, collections, guarantees and standby LCs.

In more recent years Coastline has developed online courses in trade-based financial crimes, supply chain finance and sustainability in trade and trade finance. Coastline, LIBF and IIBLP cooperated in the development of the Certificate in Trade Finance Compliance (CTFC), the leading internationally recognised qualification in trade-based financial crimes. 

Priya is a specialist in investigations and compliance with over 25 years’ experience. She is an experienced Skilled Person and has worked successfully with firms under s166 instructions by focusing on pragmatic and proportionate solutions.

Priya works with firms to identify risks and assess the effectiveness of the controls environment, including the governance and oversight arrangements. She also works with boards and senior management to help improve compliance culture.

Priya has led skilled person reviews covering the end to end financial crime framework including trade finance controls. She was appointed as the Skilled Person for a UK financial institution where all of its trade finance transactions were subject to independent review and authorisation prior to execution. The work identified enhancements to trade finance operations which improved the overall compliance quality rate and thereafter lift the business restrictions placed upon the firm.

Priya is currently appointed as Skilled Person to UK branch of an overseas firm where the main focus of the business is trade finance for trade in high risk jurisdictions.

Prior to joining Guidehouse, Priya built and led the UK financial crime risk management team at Promontory, an IBM company and held multiple senior roles at KPMG during the course of her career, including as partner focused on forensic and risk consulting. As a former auditor, Priya has a foundation in assessing control environments.

As Head of Trade and Transactional Banking, Alex Gray is responsible for all of LIBF’s trade qualifications and training. He joined the organisation after 30 years in international banking which saw him conduct a number of different banking roles overseas as part of HSBC’s international manager cadre. Within that time he specialised in trade finance and led teams in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vancouver and the UK.

Alex developed HSBC’s first anti trade-based money laundering programme adopted across the group globally. His awareness of trade-based financial crime was heightened further when he and his team of 200 had to prepare for a visit from the US Department of Justice under HSBC’s DPA. Alex holds LIBF’s CTFC qualification and is more than happy to talk further about that experience. 

Oliver is a Partner at Avyse Partners, a regulatory consultancy focused on delivering purposeful financial crime, governance, conduct and ESG and sustainability compliance advice.

He has led a number of high-profile reviews of wholesale banks for regulators in the UK and globally on financial crime and sanctions matters.

He is currently acting as a skilled person on behalf of the FCA and advising a number of institutions through similar processes as an advisor. He has extensive experience working as a consultant both in an investigatory and advisory capacity. Oliver also has extensive experience working in house for a large US oil firm.  

rebecca-harding

Rebecca Harding
Independent Trade Expert/Economist
Supply Chain Resilience
Trade Sustainability
Strategic Advisory

michael-howlett

Michael Howlett
Director
ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB)

noemi-klein

Noémi Klein
former Director and Asia Cluster Lead of Financial Crime Surveillance Operations
Standard Chartered Bank

byron-mckinney

Byron McKinney
Product Management Director
Maritime, Trade & Supply Chain
S&P Global Market Intelligence

Rebecca is an independent economist and professional speaker on economics, trade, trade finance, sustainability and geopolitics.

In 2022 she was awarded the “Net Zero Entrepreneur of the Year” at the annual Scale Up Group’s Enterprise Awards event for her role as founder of Coriolis Technologies, a technology business specialising in ESG analytics for trade finance.

Rebecca is a Senior Fellow of the British Foreign Policy Group and sit on the ITFA's ESG Committee. She is part of the ICC's sustainability Wave 1 sustainability pilot.

Michael joined the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in May 1994 and closely coordinates with the IMB’s banking, shipping, insurance and trading company members with regards to loss prevention and advice.

Michael has been instrumental in identifying systematic international fraudsters, invited to provide evidence and appear as a witness in trade related criminal cases and assisted in the investigation of the largest fraud in trade finance history. As part of his duties Michael has also investigated a number of cases worldwide relating to cargo losses, the suspicious sinking of vessels and their cargoes and the phenomena known as phantom ships.

He has travelled on investigations to a number of countries, spoken at numerous conferences and seminars worldwide and written papers on areas connected with the subject of piracy, fraud and malpractice in trade finance and international trade.

In January 2020, Michael became the CEO of ICC Commercial Crime Services – the anti-crime unit of the International Chamber of Commerce – of which IMB is a part of. 

Noémi is a financial crime compliance expert with extensive experience spanning multiple industries: banking, consulting and legal.

Noémi has developed her unique multi-dimensional FCC skill-set, building it from the ground-up. She has a compelling career of executing complex KYC and KYB reviews, leading extensive money laundering, fraud and terrorist financing investigations in multiple jurisdictions and conducting regulatory compliance reviews of international financial institutions. This culminated in becoming a pivotal member in FCC target operating model transformation within SCB striking a healthy balance between operational efficiency and effective risk management between first and second lines of defense.

Noémi strongly believes in the power of collaboration and mutual learning whilst showing strong dedication and empathy as a leader to inspire teams and executives towards a common vision.

Byron McKinney is the Product Management Director for trade finance and compliance solutions at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Byron's focus at S&P Global Market Intelligence is on the automation and simplification of the compliance and workflow process within trade finance. He has over 15 years of experience in trade finance and commodity trading most recently from Accuity, where he led the business team in designing and delivering dual-use goods identification and vessel monitoring for the banking and cargo markets.

Previously, he worked at Thomson Reuters in the energy and shipping business with time spent on developing cargo tracking models and price forecasting applications for gas and power. Byron holds a degree in History and Iranian Studies. 

robert-parson

Robert Parson
Partner
Squire Patton Boggs (UK)

deepesh-patel

Deepesh Patel
Editorial Director
Trade Finance Global (TFG)

leanard-phillip

Leanard Phillip
European Head of Financial Crime/UKMLRO
Bank ABC International

mithun-raj

Mithun Raj
Head of Trade Finance Portfolio
Cleareye.ai

Robert’s practice includes financing arrangements across the commodity and trade industry. He represents banks and non-bank financiers, funds, large and medium-sized commodity traders, producers, credit insurers and other participants in financing and monetising the international production, storage, movement and distribution of both raw materials and manufactured goods.

He advises regularly on structured trade and inventory finance and the use of financial instruments such as letters of credit, bills of exchange, promissory notes and other secure payment arrangements in international trade, as well as having expertise in related disputes.

Robert has an established reputation in the increasingly important field of digital trade, working on the establishment of digital platforms and the use and enforceability of electronic trade documents and payment instruments. He is also a regular speaker and writer on both digital trade and commodity and trade finance and is the editor of the legal journal Finance and Credit Law. 

Deepesh leads efforts in developing TFG’s brand, relationships and strategic direction in key markets, including the UK, US, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong.

He regularly chairs and speaks at international industry events with the WTO, BCR, Excred, TXF, The Economist and Reuters, as well as industry associations including ICC, FCI, ITFA, ICISA and BAFT.

Deepesh is the host of the ‘Trade Finance Talks’ podcast and ‘Trade Finance Talks TV’. He is co-author of ‘Blockchain for Trade: A Reality Check’ with the ICC and the WTO, alongside other industry research.

In addition to his work at TFG, Deepesh is a Strategic Advisor for WOA, and works closely with ITFA. He also sits on the Fintech Working Group of the Standardised Trust.

Prior to TFG, Deepesh worked at Travelex where he was responsible for the cards business and the Travelex Money app in Europe, NAM, UK and Brazil. Deepesh is Chair of Governors and co-opted LA Governor of the Wyvern Federation, which has responsibility for 5 primary schools in South London.

Leanard has a MSc. in Financial Regulations and Compliance Management from London Metropolitan University. His dissertation focused on regulation of Islamic Banking for which he was awarded a distinction.

He also holds a Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering from Sir John Cass Business School, City University, London and is an Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist with qualifications from University of Portsmouth. He holds a diploma in Forensic Accounting and a Non-Executive Directorships Diploma from the Financial Times Board Director Programme.

Leanard has been approved as a SMF17 for a number of firms and let a number of financial crime compliance remediation programmes resulting from regulatory actions including Section 166. He has utilised his education and experience from a career spanning 25 years to demonstrate he is a subject matter expert with the ultimate goal of ensuring that financial services provided by his employer are done within a safe regulatory environment. 

Mithun is the Head of Trade Finance Portfolio at Cleareye.ai, a leading fintech company working in trade finance and compliance process automation and digitisation.

With over 20 years of experience in banking, Mithun brings deep expertise in the field of trade finance operations, compliance and TBML. Throughout his career, he has held senior positions at leading regional and global banks.

kaushika-ruwangalla

Kaushika Ruwangalla
Global Head of Financial Crime Compliance – Global Trade Finance
HSBC

chris-southworth

Chris Southworth
Secretary General
ICC United Kingdom

lorna-strong

Lorna Strong
Deputy General Counsel
HSBC Global Trade & Receivables Finance (GTRF)

jan-termijtelen

Jan Willem Termijtelen
Global Head TCF Collateral Risk
Rabobank

Kaushika is currently the Global Head of Financial Crime Compliance of HSBC’s Global Trade & Receivables Finance, the world’s largest trade finance bank.

He has broad-ranging experience in Risk at a senior leadership level across trade finance, payments, wholesale & retail banking with specialism in AML, sanctions, transaction monitoring, fraud, operational risk and regulatory compliance including conduct risk. 

Chris Southworth is Secretary General at the International Chamber of Commerce UK and a regular voice for business in the international media. He is also Co-Chair of the Legal Reform Advisory Board at the ICC Digital Standards Initiative, co-founder of the UK Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation and ICC Representative to The Commonwealth. He is a member of the ICC World Council as well as the International Advisory Boards of the Digital Trade Network and Queen Mary-UNIDROIT Institute of Transnational Commercial Law.

Chris is a leading international expert on creating modern digital trade ecosystems, the founder of the ICC Digital Trade Roadmap, a member of the global team supporting the ICC Digital Standards Initiative, ICC G7 United Kingdom representative, a member of the ICC G7, G20, Digitisation and Ecommerce Working Groups.

He is also a lead independent adviser to the UK government on the digitisation of trade on behalf of industry working with the Department for International Trade, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Her Majesty’s Treasury and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 

Lorna Strong, Deputy General Counsel for HSBC Global Trade & Receivables Finance (GTRF), acts as the primary legal advisor for GTRF’s operations globally; advising GTRF and playing a role in shaping HBSC’s contribution to regulatory and policy debates on trade finance. She provides global oversight, coordination, and training for legal counsel in over 40 jurisdictions. Lorna and her global legal team have been instrumental in advising innovative digital solutions for trade finance, including the first financial trade blockchain transactions: the award winning blockchain platforms we trade and Contour. In 2020, Lorna and her team were instrumental in managing the response to the disruption of global trade due to Covid-19 and as member of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Legal Committee, Lorna drafted industry guidance papers dealing with the risk of force majeure as well as the mitigation of economic sanction risk.

Lorna holds a doctorate in law and a bachelor of applied science from the University of British Columbia and has been recognized in the areas of banking law, trade finance, and international law, including as a recipient of the 2012 Global Counsel Award for Regulatory (Financial Services): Individual of the Year and the 2017 Letter of Credit Lawyer of the Year. 

Jan has a diverse career spanning over 25 years in the international commodity trade industry. He started his journey at Control Union World Group, where he was involved in their physical collateral and stock monitoring services in South America and Europe.

In the early 2000s, he moved to Hong Kong to implement and lead these efforts in that region. In 2003, he moved to Jakarta to serve as President Director for PT Peterson Mitra Indonesia / Control Union Indonesia, where he oversaw general management in the coal, grains, and certification services sectors.

After holding leading roles in the international commodity trade business, including as Global Head of Operational Risk & Insurance at Noble Group and at Banco BTG Pactual/Engelhart CTP, in Hong Kong and London respectively, Jan Willem transitioned into the finance sector in 2019. He is now Global Head of TCF Collateral Risk and member of the Fraud Risk Committee at Rabobank International in Utrecht and London.

By combining the variety of perspectives gained throughout his career in logistics, risk management, insurance, and trade & commodity finance, Jan is in a unique position to appreciate the complexities of physical risk management and apply them to fraud risk control.

Jan holds a master’s degree in Dutch civil and environmental law. 

 

matthias-verbeke

Matthias Verbeke
Co-founder
Complidata.io

alexandra-will

Alexandra Will
Director
Financial Crime
Fraud and Investigative Services
Guidehouse UK

geoff-wynne

Geoffrey Wynne
Head of Sullivan & Worcester's London Office

Matthias has worked in financial crime risk for over 15 years, implementing transaction monitoring systems and screening systems at various financial institutions.

Since co-founding Complidata, his focus has been on delivering AI solutions which helped reduce the risk of financial crime and automating more complex processes within financial crime mitigation as for example in trade finance.

Alexandra is a Director in Guidehouse’s Financial Services – Global Investigation and Compliance Practice in London.

She has more than 15 years’ work experience, 12 of them specialising in financial crime. Alexandra has been involved in multiple global financial crime transformation and remediation projects with a focus on AML/KYC/transaction monitoring and helps banks to develop their AML Programmes and operating models.

Prior to joining Guidehouse in 2020, Alexandra was a Director in the forensic practice of a Big4 consulting firm in London, and prior to this worked at Deutsche Bank in Germany and Asia in a 1LOD risk management role in the transaction banking and correspondent banking business.

Geoffrey Wynne is head of Sullivan & Worcester’s London office and also head of its award winning Trade & Export Finance Group. Geoff is a leading trade and finance lawyer with extensive experience in structured trade and commodity finance and related legal and compliance issues. He has recently been involved in several digital initiatives for trade finance, including digital payment obligations and the use of LIBOR in the BAFT MPAs – of which he was a key draftsman.

Geoff sits on the editorial boards of a number of publications and is a regular contributor and speaker at conferences. He is a member of ITFA’s Market Practices Committee (MPC) and has been assisting with a number of key legal issues relating to trade and export finance. Geoff is currently co-chair of the ICC Committee writing the Uniform Rules for Digital Trade Transactions (URDTT).

In Chambers and Partners Geoff is ranked a Tier 1 lawyer for Commodities: Trade Finance. He holds a Fellowship award for trade finance from Trade and Forfaiting Review and is recognised in the UK Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame”. 

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