Announcing The Winners Of The 2023 ITFA Emerging Trade Financier Award

Dear ITFA members,

One of the highlights of the 49^th ITFA Annual Conference held last week in Abu Dhabi was, once again, the ITFA Emerging Trade Financier Award. Running for the 5^th time, the competition received entries from 13 Emerging Trade Financiers based all over the World. The Award Jury met in August and had the arduous task of selecting 3 projects for the final shortlist, who then had the privilege of joining the ITFA Conference and presenting to delegates in attendance.

The shortlisted candidates and projects were as follows:

• Charlotte Russo (American International Group UK, London) – ‘The Trade Finance Talent Gap’
• Neha Saxena (DBS Bank, New Delhi) – ‘Unlocking the Potential of Deep-Tier SCF’
• Ruby Zhou (UBS O’Connor, New York City) – ‘ESG Pricing Incentive for SCF’

As it’s happened since the first edition was held in 2019, this year the Award attracted a lot of interest and attention, so we would like to share the outcome with the wider ITFA community, in case you were not able to hear it first hand at the Gala Dinner last Thursday.

And the Winners of the 2023 ITFA Emerging Trade Financier Award are… Charlotte Russo, Neha Saxena and Ruby Zhou!

For the first time in the competition history so far, voting was so close and the recognised quality of the candidates and respective projects so high, that we made the executive decision to attribute the Award to all three of them. Well-deserved and congratulations to all!

Charlotte’s, Neha’s and Ruby’s work will now be showcased and published throughout the year ahead, both by ITFA and by our Award Media Partners, Global Trade Review (GTR).

Thank you for your support and please join us in giving our three winners the kudos and recognition they deserve – on to very promising careers in our trade finance industry.