Announcing the conference fintech speakers and panelists, Bristol 2021, 6-8 October

With just two weeks to the ITFA annual conference, we cannot contain our excitement. Registrations are flowing in nicely so be sure to join us at this year’s edition of the Annual Conference being held between 6-8 October in Bristol. Please click here to register at your earliest. Click here to view the programme. 

Starting on Wednesday October 6th at 9am, delegates are invited to attend a series of 4 sessions on strategic technology-driven industry developments. We are delighted to introduce two of those sessions below.

Moderated by John Bugeja, Trade Advisory Network, the third panel will focus on trade ecosystems and how banks and corporates are embracing them. Speakers include Geoff Wynne, Sullivan; Daniel Cotti, Marco Polo Network; Maria Mogilnaya, EBRD and Mansour Davarian, Demica.

Moderated by André Casterman, Chair Fintech Committee, ITFA, the fourth panel will focus on digital trade asset distribution featuring Bertrand de Comminges, Santander Asset Management; Ian Duffy, Accelerated Payments and Nils Behling, Tradeteq. How can institutional investors get exposure on trade assets originated by banks? What is the role of digital assets in this distribution space?

Geoffrey Wynne is head of Sullivan & Worcester’s London office and also head of its award winning Trade & Export Finance Group. Geoff is one of the leading trade finance lawyers. He has extensive experience in many aspects of banking and finance, specifically trade and structured trade and commodity finance and related legal and compliance issues. He has recently been involved in a number of initiatives for trade finance in the digital world including digital payment obligations including 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. Geoff 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”.

Daniel Cotti has 36+ years experience working in global  leading positions with P&L responsibilities for Citibank, ABN AMRO, RBS and JPMorgan and 6+ years in the Trade Finance Fintech space. He has acquired deep subject matter expertise for Trade Finance and the emerging technologies and new business models. Over the years Daniel was actively involved with the major industry associations ICC, SWIFT, BAFT, WTO to drive the Trade Finance Industry agenda forward and most recently has worked behind the scenes to launch a new Trade Standards Body of the ICC, Digital Standards Initiative. Daniel is very well-respected in the Industry and has an enormous network of contacts around the globe.

Dr Maria Mogilnaya is a principal banker and a lawyer in the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme specialising in promoting green trade finance in the EBRD regions, with a particular interest in digitalisation. She is experienced in negotiating and structuring trade finance transactions in developing countries, and in private sector development through innovative capacity building projects.

Dr Mogilnaya holds a PhD in Banking Law and Regulation from De Montfort University (2012) and a Diploma in Jurisprudence from Saint-Petersburg State University (2004).

Since 2011, Dr Mogilnaya has been working at the EBRD within its Trade Facilitation Programme. Launched in 1999, the Trade Facilitation Programme is the platform through which the EBRD provides guarantees to international confirming banks and short-term loans to selected banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors.

Mansour Davarian joined Demica in May 2016 having spent most of his career at HSBC Bank plc working across structured finance and client coverage. Mansour brings over 15 years of experience to Demica, leading Platform Sales across Large Corporate and Financial Institutional clients globally.

A renowned industry expert, Bertrand is currently the lead portfolio manager for the global Trade Finance strategy at Santander Asset Management.

Before joining Santander Bertrand was for 8 years at HSBC and in his last role he was responsible for the European Business Development activities for Global Trade & Receivables Finance. In this role he was responsible for all Global Corporates, Commodities, Financial Institutions and SME’s trade finance activities in the region. Previously, with teams located in 5 continents, he was HSBC’s Global Product Head of Structured Solutions for the organization and, Global Head of Solutions Structuring.

Before HSBC, Bertrand worked at JP Morgan where he launched and led the EMEA Structured Trade Advisory business and, for RBS, where in his last role he was Head of Trade for the EMEA region.

Bertrand is a member of the ICC’s Banking Commission Steering Committee for transforming Trade Finance as an Asset Class, and a Subject Matter expert in the ICC’s of Global Supply Chain Finance initiative. Bertrand is a Chartered Actuary, has a full-time MBA from the London Business School and an MSc degree in Economics and Business Sciences from UCM.

Ian is the founder and CEO of Accelerated Payments, a company that delivers flexible cost effective working capital to SMEs in Ireland, the UK and North America. He is also Chairman of a number of high growth companies including XSDirect, Fastway Couriers and ServisBot. He has significant expertise and experience in supporting the promoters and management of high growth companies to develop and deliver their respective strategies. He also assists and supports the fund raising of capital and debt for these and other companies and has a particular interest in the Fintech and alternative energy sectors. Ian has been involved in a number of successful exits for investors and shareholders of private companies including FeedHenry (of which he was Chairman).

Ian completed a B.A.I. in Engineering and Maths at Trinity College Dublin, has a diploma in Applied finance from the IMI and is a Chartered Director with the Institute of Directors in the UK and Ireland.

Nils Behling is a founder and the CFO at Tradeteq, the global trade finance distribution platform. Before entering the fintech space Nils was a trade finance investor and a portfolio manager for Trafigura’s Galena Asset Management. Prior to that he worked with Merrill Lynch’s FICC business, structuring complex funding and capital markets solutions for banks and real-money clients. Nils started his career as a restructuring attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, working on cross-border debt advisory, business reorganisations, and work-outs.

We look forward to welcoming you on Wednesday morning in Bristol!