Authors Page - Trade Finance Global

Michelle Knowles is the Head of Trade and Working Capital (Pan Africa) at Absa Group Limited and has recently also taken on responsibility for the Trade and Working Capital Product Governance, Risk and Innovation function in the business During her 23 years in the Banking industry, Michelle has spent the major part of her career in Trade Finance at Standard Bank, First National Bank and the ABSA Group. During this time, she has been involved in training, management of trade online channels and for the past 11 years, her focus has been on Product Management, with an emphasis on the development of a portfolio of new emerging products and management of an existing portfolio’s. In her current role, she is responsible for defining and executing the Trade Finance Product strategy across the Group’s footprint across Africa, which includes driving innovation and product development and execution for the Trade Finance suite of products. The evolution of Supply Chain Finance products and its ability to address the Trade Finance Gap in Africa has been her focus over the past couple of years. She has also taken on responsibility for the Product Governance and Risk Management function for the Trade and Working Capital business. The role is responsible for leading the TWC product governance and innovation function across all the presence markets and setting and managing of the overall Trade and Working capital risk strategy and appetite across the business. The role is also responsible for collaboration strategies and leading the innovation process in the business to identify new revenue opportunities or technology trends that aligns to the overall strategy of the business. Michelle has a Master’s Degree in Business Leadership (UNISA) and has completed the SAFEX Registered Persons examination for Bond, Equity and Futures markets. In addition, she holds a certificate in Business Psychology and Human Behaviour, completed numerous leadership and trade finance courses, and is currently a member of the Institute of South African Financial Markets.

Scott Wellcome is the Director of Grain Risk Management & Sourcing at GoodMills Group GmbH, based in Vienna, Austria. The GoodMills group is Europe’s biggest wheat milling company, operating in 7 EU countries with 24 milling operations. Scott has over 35 years’ experience in the grains and oilseeds market.

Senior partner at the Brazilian law firm Feijó Lopes Advogados, which renders legal advice to matters of high complexity, responsibility and confidentiality, in areas such as capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, trade finance, project finance and corporate governance.

Nelli Kocharyan leads International Relations Division at “Converse Bank” CJSC, Armenia. Responsible for international banking relations, correspondent banking and trade finance business of the Bank.With 14 years’ of banking experience in trade finance, cash management, funds raising and KYC evaluation basics. Certified in International Trade and Finance by London Institute of Banking and Finance (LIBF). Holds “ICA Certificate in KYC and CDD”, as well as “ICA Specialist Certificate in Trade Based Money Laundering” extended by International Compliance Association. Since 2022 Nelli is member of Banking & Finance Commission, International Chamber of Commerce National Committee Armenia.

Pradeep is the Global Head, Structured Solutions and Development, Transaction Banking. He is responsible for strategy and leadership to grow structured or bespoke trade-based financing solutions. He works with a team of experienced transactors who are based regionally. This team consults clients on their financing, risk mitigation or working capital efficiency needs and finds ways to provide solutions by bringing liquidity, risk appetite and mitigations within and outside the bank.  He is also the lead for the sustainable trade finance proposition within the bank and launched a market leading proposition this year.   He has 21 years of banking experience across various roles and regions. His earlier roles included heading teams within Corporate Finance based in Hong Kong and India. In Corporate Finance his scope included originating sell side private equity mandates, origination and execution of leveraged finance transactions and origination of convertible bond mandates, for local corporate clients. Since 2009 he has been responsible for origination and structuring of Structured Trade Finance transactions.  He started his career in Standard Chartered Bank in 2001 as a credit analyst and then as a relationship manager covering corporate clients. He also worked with First Gulf Bank in UAE between 2006 and 2008 and headed client coverage teams for clients in Dubai and Northern emirates  He is trained as an Electrical Engineer from Regional Engineering College, Silchar, India and has a MBA from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees, Paris. He is currently based in Singapore and married with a young daughter. 

Senior Vice President, Treasurer and General Manager, Treasury as a Service Visa Inc (since June 2017) Colleen is responsible for Visa’s Global Treasury Function including: Global Cash Management, Capital Markets, Insurance, Financial Risk Management, and Settlement Operations. In addition, Colleen is General Manager of Treasury as a Service (TaaS), a business within the New Flows division. Colleen is co-lead of Diversity & Inclusion for Finance, a part of the Gender Inclusion Council and on the steering committee of Women in Finance. Colleen serves on Visa’s Pension Benefits Committee, is a member of Visa’s Political Action Committee Board and is Treasurer of the Visa Foundation as well as Chair of the Investment Committee.

Catherine acts for a variety of clients across the full range of trade, commodities and supply chain products including inventory finance, prepayment facilities, structured commodity finance, trade receivables and supply chain finance and restructurings in the commodities sector. She also regularly advises on trade and commodity finance participations. Catherine is an editorial board member of Trade Finance Global. She has advised UK and global industry bodies on legal and regulatory issues affecting the trade and commodity finance community, speaks frequently at international industry conferences and contributes to trade and commodity finance publications. Catherine is recognised as a ‘Leading Individual’ for Trade and Commodity Finance and ‘Next Generation Partner’ in Emerging Markets by Legal 500 UK (2024).

Basil joined the Swiss Re Corporate Solutions team in March 2022 and is responsible for Trade Finance solutions in the Americas.  Basil has more than 20 years of primary and facultative experience underwriting structured credit, trade finance and political risk in the North American and London markets. Basil specializes in providing innovative credit solutions for large corporates, financial institutions, multilaterals and Export Credit Agencies. He holds a BA (Hons) in International Business from the University of Central Lancashire (United Kingdom) and also attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland.

Experienced Solutions Specialist, Change Agent and Trusted Advisor with 13+ years of management consulting experience. Combining business, finance, risk and technology expertise aimed at helping world class MNCs solve complex business issues and proactively manage high impact, large scale (enterprise-wide and international) business change across all key business disciplines.

Hari Janakiraman is the head of industry and innovation, and transaction banking at ANZ. He is also an Executive Committee Member at the ICC Banking Commission. Hari Janakiraman is an internationally recognized Transaction Banking expert with extensive experience in product management, risk management, and regulatory compliance. He excels in leveraging emerging technologies like blockchain and AI, implementing initiatives in financial crime prevention, digital currencies, and trade finance platforms. Passionate about financial inclusion and digitization, Hari is committed to driving industry change through innovative solutions.

Oliver Belin is the CEO of Calculum Inc., a Miami-based FinTech company that helps organizations unlock working capital and generate free cash flow by optimizing payment terms. With over 15 years of experience in supply chain and credit finance, Oliver previously founded Swiss Commercial Capital, a trade finance company successfully sold to Macquarie Bank. He is also the author of two books on Supply Chain Finance and a frequent speaker on the topic. Under his leadership, Calculum has won several awards for excellence in working capital and supply chain finance. Oliver is a recognized thought leader in the field.

Pilar Fragalà is the Chief Commercial Officer of CBI. Pilar Fragalà has more than 20 years of experience as an educator, researcher, and consultant in the banking field. She has obtained over the years vast experience in the financial sector, with a profound knowledge of traditional and innovative business models in the area of Transaction Banking. Born in Rome in 1976, she graduated in Economics at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” with a research thesis on the synergies of “Multifunctional Banking Groups” following which she continued her collaboration with the University, teaching in a course on Banking Law. Over the years, she accrued extensive and transversal experience in the banking system, moving from Banca Mediolanum to ABI and – from an initial experience in CBI – to a lengthier tenure experience at BNP Paribas Group in BNL, where she also held the position of a board member of one of the Group’s entities. Since 2020, she is Chief Commercial Officer at CBI S.c.p.a., in addition, to being an advisor to the Board of Directors of XBRL Italy.

Kai Fehr is a senior vice president and the global head of International Trade Services, part of Wells Fargo’s Commercial Capital Group. Based in Singapore, Kai is responsible for developing and executing the global sales strategy for traditional trade products across the Wholesale Banking Group platform, and managing a global senior management team to ensure that product, sales, credit, distribution, and alliance services meet sales and customer service objectives. Kai joined Wells Fargo from Barclays Bank in Singapore, where he was the managing director and head of Trade & Working Capital for Asia Pacific, leading trade sales, trade product, and trade asset distribution. Before Barclays, he was with UniCredit’s Markets and Investment Bank in Singapore, where he had various roles leading a distressed debt special situation fund in the Philippines, and was also responsible for structured trade facilities and commodity finance for Asian clients. In June 2018, Kai was appointed as co-chair of the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) Asia Council, and is a member of the BAFT Board of Directors. He has also been the chair of the Banking Environment Initiative (BEI) Sustainable Shipment Working Group that aims to achieve zero net deforestation through innovation in the trade finance supply chain. Kai is the Chair of Wells Fargo’s Sustainability Committee in APAC. Kai was born in Germany and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Bayreuth, and a master’s degree in law from the University of Munich (LMU).

Vincent O’Brien is the director of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and associate director of the Institute of International Banking Law and Practice.

Fatenah is a chairperson for ITFA Middle-East.

Christopher Cox is a Managing Director with experience leading businesses across the full breadth of Markets and Securities Services product space, having managed global product teams, regional product portfolios, and country markets franchises. Proven history of delivery, creating top-ranked product franchises and/or quick, effective turn arounds of businesses that can do better. “Senior Manager” under FCA/PRA definition. Track record of bringing innovation across product and technology to fruition, to create franchise value and rapidly grow either SOW or improve OE. Deep experience across EMEA and APAC markets, with 9 1/2 yrs spent in Asia (Japan, Singapore and Australia). Skilled in Risk Management, Derivatives, Business Restructurings, Controls and Governance along with Performance Management. Strong quantitative skills base, with MEng (Dainton) in Mechanical Engineering and Business Studies from Imperial College London.