Events

Mr. Pramod Achanta provides strategic advice and execution support on Blockchain technologies to leading Financial Services participants. Mr. Achanta is also responsible for developing innovative solutions leveraging IBM’s blockchain and cognitive capabilities for the Financial Services industry. Mr. Achanta is a proven leader with a successful track record of delivering complex solutions in a fast paced business environment. With his in-depth understanding of the business and technology challenges for sell-side, buy-side and market infrastructure firms, Mr. Achanta managed several transformation initiatives. Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Achanta worked for Capco, BearingPoint and Citigroup and its affiliates performing various senior roles. Mr. Achanta received MBA with Honors from The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelors in Engineering from BITS, Pilani in India.

Jonathan Arkins is Partner in the Corporate, Finance and Investments practice group at King & Spalding. Mr. Arkins has extensive experience representing lenders/buyers and borrowers/sellers alike in warehouse facilities, securities contracts and repurchase transactions, as well as representing lenders and borrowers and more traditional forms of leveraged and secured lending and private equity fund financing facilities (including subscription lines). Mr. Arkins also has a significant practice representing both US and international financial institutions in supply chain finance and trade finance structures and programs, as well as in securitization transactions of a diverse range of asset types.

Stacey Facter has been Senior Vice President for Trade Products at BAFT for the last six years. Ms. Facter is responsible for managing all the Association’s activities related to trade products and serves as the primary subject matter expert for trade issues, overseeing and managing BAFT’s trade councils, committees and working groups and helps members develop guidance tools for the trade industry. Ms. Facter serves as a public spokesperson for the organization to stakeholders, regulators and policy makers on industry matters affecting the international trade finance community and is BAFT’s primary technical resource for trade related education and training.Ms. Facter has more than twenty-five years of experience in international banking, including over twenty years with JP Morgan Chase Bank, covering emerging markets, international trade finance, cash and risk management, and securities collateral management.

Christian Hausherr is the European Product Head of Supply Chain Finance for Deutsche Bank’s Payables Finance solution, bringing to the role over 20 years of experience in Banking, In-house Consulting and Product Management for Cash Management and Supply Chain Finance. Mr. Hausherr spent his career within Deutsche Bank in various divisions and regions, mostly spanning across Europe and the Transaction Banking business. He holds a diploma in business administration from the University of Bayreuth and has worked in Germany, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain, the US, as well as in India and Uganda on Corporate Social Responsibility assignments in the financial and educational sector.

Andrew Holmes joined Demica in 2018 to open the U.S. office and heads up Origination in North America. He previously worked for Barclays where he led the Trade and Working Capital team in the Americas, after having spent seven years in London in a variety of Trade Finance roles. Mr. Holmes holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Alexander R. Malaket, CITP, is the President of OPUS Advisory Services International Inc., in Canada, and Founder and Managing Director of Trade Finance Associates Pte in Singapore. Mr. Malaket is recognized internationally as a specialist and senior consultant in international trade and trade finance, having advised top-tier financial services, corporate, government and international institution clients across the globe, and having developed and delivered a variety of training seminars on an international basis. Mr. Malaket serves as a member of the Executive Committee and Technical Advisor to the ICC Banking Commission in Paris, as Secretary/Treasurer of the World Trade Centre in Winnipeg and is a long-time member of the Toronto Regional Board of Trade/World Trade Centre, as well as a member of the SWIFT/ICC Industry Education Group on the Bank Payment Obligation. Alexander is a member of the Board of Directors of the Forum for International Trade Training, Ottawa, Canada. Alexander is the author of “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains”, published by Gower/Ashgate UK.

Michael McDonough leads the Trade & Working Capital functions for Santander’s Commercial Bank franchise in the United States. In this role he leads teams providing solutions across the Commercial Card, Core Trade and Supply Chain / Accounts Receivable solution sets. Additionally, his team leads the development and management of the Domestic and International working capital channels, which include Santander’s international Treasury Management platform. Prior to this role, Michael held a number of roles at J.P. Morgan including global product head for the Corporate Trade & Supply Chain Finance business and head of N. America Trade & Export Finance. Michael previously held global Supply Chain Finance roles at RBS and ABN Amro in London and Amsterdam. Michael has both a BS and a MBA from Boston College.

Emy Ruiz currently oversees the bank’s Global Trade and Supply Chain Finance team responsible for managing liquidity solutions for the banks clients. Ms. Ruiz has over 30 years of banking experience with 20 years in Global Trade Finance management responsible for Open account solutions, trade finance, traditional trade, portfolio management, risk mitigation and product development. She has held various leadership positions in Credit, commercial, corporate and international sales with various financial institutions with vast domestic and international capabilities, including Southeast Bank, First Union and Regions Bank. She is very active in various international Chambers and United Way.

Mr. Farhad Subjally is the Regional Head of Trade Product Management for the Transaction Banking business at Standard Chartered based in New York. His focus on documentary and open account trade products and services that deliver sustainable value to our institutional clients for their global trade finance requirements. Mr. Subjally has been with Standard Chartered for five years. Prior to joining the bank, he was with American Express Bank, where he held a number of product sales roles in the US and the Middle East. Mr. Subjally is a graduate of American College of Switzerland and has an MBA from Tulane University. He is also chair of the BAFT Financial Supply Chain Committee.