Speaker Biographies Singapore 2016 Alphabetically by Surname
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Speaker Biographies Singapore 2016 Alphabetically by surname Chris Ash President Trade Finance Solutions Chris Ash is currently President of London based TFS Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of the Trade Finance Solutions Group based in Toronto, Canada and Miami in the US. The TFS group has been actively engaged in Trade Finance for over 10 years. Chris has been tasked with the expansion of this established Alternative Finance Provider in the Trade Finance arena into the European, Asian and African regions, with plans to open a new office in Singapore shortly. TFS specialise in cross border Trade Finance for trading houses, manufacturers and distributors worldwide, and offer facilities in the $1m to $40m range. Prior to joining TFS, Chris was CEO of Trade Finance Partners, based in London, and held several previous senior roles with independent Trade Finance Houses, as well as major banks. He is a professionally qualified banker with over 30 years’ experience, and is a respected specialist in the Trade Finance space. Marc Auboin Counsellor Economic Research & Statistics World Trade Organization (WTO) Dr. Marc Auboin is an Economic Counsellor in the World Trade Organization (WTO), responsible for the WTO's trade and finance agenda, which includes trade finance, trade and exchange rates, trade and growth and other related topics. He is also responsible for the daily management of WTO's relations with the IMF and World Bank. Previously he held several positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was Deputy-Secretary General of the Monetary Committee of the European Union, worked for the French Treasury. Mr. Auboin holds a PhD in Economics from Sciences-Po Paris, and was a research fellow at the London School of Economics and Yale University. He published pieces of research, views and articles on trade finance issues in the economic press and in academic books and articles. He has been active in developing the WTO agenda on trade finance, and as such, is liaising with multilateral development banks, the IMF and World Bank Group, as well as the G20, on policy issues related to the availability of trade finance Nolan Bauerle Instigator Skuchain Nolan was a researcher and writer for the Canadian Senate Banking Committee for several years, studying the 2008 financial meltdown, anti-terrorist financing and the future of Canada’s air industry. No study captured his imagination more than the Banking Committee’s report on cryptocurrencies. Nolan is serial entrepreneur and is excited to contribute to the blockchain revolution. He is a techno-optimist and the author of the science-fiction novel, The Blue Moon as well as the upcoming Diamond Igloo of Iqaluit. Steven Beck Head Trade Finance Asian Development Bank Steven Beck is the head of trade finance at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In his nine years at the ADB, he has managed exponential growth of the bank’s trade finance program and implemented its first supply-chain finance business. Also while at the ADB, Mr Beck initiated the Trade Finance Register of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which compiles the only industry-wide statistics on trade-finance default and loss rates. These statistics underpinned changes to the Basel III regulations, freeing billions of dollars to support trade in emerging markets. In 2013, he led an ADB study that, for the first time, quantified trade finance market gaps and their impact on economic growth and jobs. He began his career with roles as a special assistant to the Canadian minister for international trade and as a senior manager at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). He left CIBC to help design and implement a new multilateral development bank, the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank (BSTDB). In this capacity, he focused on Turkey, Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union. Following BSTDB, he took up roles as a senior consultant, including work with the United States Agency for International Development in southern Africa and with a start-up financial institution in Armenia. Mr Beck is on the advisory board of the ICC Banking Commission and the World Trade Board. He is also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Working Group for Trade Finance. He has an MA from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a BA from Queen’s University, Ontario. Andrew Beechey Head Global Financial Risks, Asia Pacific Liberty International Underwriters Andrew joined Liberty in March 2014 to head up the Asia Pacific region for the Global Financial Risks team. Based in Singapore, his role involves overseeing the development of the political risk, contract frustration and structured trade credit underwriting for the region. Prior to joining Liberty Andrew spent nine years at Zurich, where he was deputy head of the London credit and political risk team and had primary responsibility for new client development and overseeing the day to day underwriting within the team. Before embarking on his underwriting career Andrew spent nine years as a broker for Marsh, working in both the London and US markets. Andrew has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and is ACII qualified. Finbarr Bermingham Asia Editor GTR Finbarr Bermingham is the Asia Editor of GTR, based in Hong Kong. He has been working in Hong Kong for one year, having previously been based in London and South Korea. As Asia Editor, Finbarr responsible for all Asia coverage in the magazine and its supplements and regularly travels to events around the region. He appears regularly in the international media to discuss Asian issues, particularly those associated with trade and development. He previously worked as the Trade Correspondent for the International Business Times in London, reporting most regularly on international trade and development, sanctions, free trade agreements and commodities fraud. His reporting has also appeared in a host of national and international titles, including Al Jazeera, the Times of London, The Asia Times and the Irish News. Simon Bessant Director Credit & Political Risk Insurance Texel Finance Simon Bessant became a Director of Texel Finance Limited in 2012 and manages a team of brokers placing political and trade credit risk insurance for bank, trader and corporate clients. In addition to his management duties, Simon specialises in structuring and negotiating insurance policies to meet clients’ risk management and regulatory needs and has a successful track record placing insurance for complex and/or difficult risks. Simon joined Texel in 2007 after 4 years at Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) where he worked as research analyst and then as a broker in the Credit and Political Risk team where he placed insurance for commodity trader and financial institution clients. Simon graduated from Bath University in 2003. Texel Finance Limited is a Lloyd’s registered and FCA regulated specialised credit and political risk broker, with a deep knowledge base of commodities and structured trade finance. Texel Finance’s parent company also owns Texel Asia Pte Limited, a Singapore-based broker, as well as Texel Capital Limited, which originates, structures, and distributes structured trade finance transactions. David Blair Managing Director Acarate 25 years of management and treasury experience in global companies David Blair was formerly vice- president treasury at Huawei where he drove a treasury transformation for this fast-growing Chinese infocomm equipment supplier. Before that David was group treasurer of Nokia, where he built one of the most respected treasury organisations in the world. He has previous experience with ABB, PriceWaterhouse, and Cargill. David has extensive experience managing global and diverse treasury teams, as well as playing a leading role in e-commerce standard development and in professional associations. He has counselled corporations and banks as well as governments. He trains treasury teams around the world and serves as a preferred tutor to the EuroFinance treasury and risk management training curriculum. Bruce Blakeman Vice-President Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific Cargill Bruce Blakeman is the Vice President for Corporate Affairs in the Asia-Pacific region for Cargill stationed in Singapore. His responsibilities include managing government relations, stakeholder management, M&A, internal & external communications, issues management, and corporate social responsibility activities in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to joining Cargill in October 2005, Bruce served four years as a Presidential Appointee in the Bush Administration. He was first appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Commerce where he ran the domestic operations of the U.S. Commercial Service (2001-2003). He was then asked to serve as the Secretary of Commerce Donald Evan’s special envoy to China stationed in the Beijing Embassy where he served for two years (2003-2005). Before joining the government, Bruce was a Senior Vice President for Wirthlin Worldwide, living in Washington, D.C., Singapore and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Wirthlin Worldwide was a global communications & branding strategy consultancy and political consulting firm headed by President Ronald Reagan’s chief strategist, Dr. Richard Wirthlin. In the early 1990s, Bruce was the first foreign political campaign advisor to the Liberal Party of Australia, based in Canberra for two-and-a-half years. Bruce began his career as a political campaign manager and consultant. He has also worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Bruce is from Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA and grew up on a blueberry farm. Paul Bloxham Chief Economist HSBC Paul joined HSBC in 2010 as Chief Economist for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to this, he spent almost 12 years as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia where he held a range of different roles in the economics department, including heading up the overseas economies and financial conditions sections. Paul has published a number of papers, including on household finances, asset prices, monetary policy and global commodity price trends.