Now in its sixth year, BAFT’s Future Leaders program, recognizing upcoming talent in the global transaction banking industry, announces the Class of 2021.

WASHINGTON — BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, announced today its Future Leaders Program Class of 2021. Now in its sixth year, the program recognizes upcoming talent in the global transaction banking industry.

Nominated by their respective institutions, the class of 2021 includes 36 individuals from 21 countries across six continents representing a variety of disciplines within transaction banking. Arguably the most geographically diverse slate in the history of the program, there are nine member institutions participating for the first time and two new countries, Bahrain and Zambia, represented in the Class of 2021.

This year’s group will be divided into five project teams to address current industry issues including transaction banking post COVID-19, commodity trade finance, sustainable finance, faster payments, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I have been fortunate enough to participate in some form in the Future Leaders program since its inception,” said Stephanie Wolf, managing director and head of global financial institutions, governments and business banking, global transaction services, Bank of America and a class of 2021 BAFT Future Leader sponsor. “I can think of no better way to improve industry thought leadership than to let more junior members of our teams propose solutions to the industry’s most pressing problems and opportunities.”

The class of 2021 will start their program virtually in January 2021 and will conclude at BAFT’s 2021 Virtual Global Annual Meeting in June 2021. Several future leader council members will support the current class as mentors, joining BAFT board members who will again serve as project sponsors.

“We’re excited to have the largest and most geographically diverse Future Leaders class since the inception of the program,” said Tod Burwell, president and CEO, BAFT. “During this time when everyone is more isolated due to the pandemic, we hope that the virtual engagement on the projects will allow for a fresh level of interaction that is enriching to the participants.”

BAFT congratulates the following individuals who were selected to this year’s program:

• Hanan Hassan Moalim Ali, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation
• Yasseen Alsharif, Arab Bank
• Hanna G. Atallah, Housing Bank for Trade and Finance
• Linda Bader, Wintrust Financial Corporation
• Boris Bajic, Danske Bank
• Thomas Banks, Lloyds Banking Group
• Ahmed Bayoumi, Export Development Bank of Egypt (EBE)
• Clement Berthou, Societe Generale
• Caroline Brown, Wells Fargo Bank
• Bruno Campos, Bank of America
• Antonio Crespo, Nordea
• Alexia Dackberg, Swedbank
• Madlena Demirchian, Commerce Bank
• Natalie Harold, NatWest
• Christophe Hatt, BNP Paribas
• Aaron Jennings, BNY Mellon
• Elmira Jubanyshkaliyeva, Barclays
• Mukuka Bwalya-Katowa, FNB Zambia
• Zakir Khanmammadov, Kapital Bank
• Rufus Kin Yan Lam, HSBC
• Ryan Lastra, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• Thao Hanh Le, ING Bank
• Yvonne Lim, UBS
• Aline Perico Lima, StoneX
• Sepideh Malekpour, Surecomp
• Jocelyn Tong-Palmer, ANZ Banking Group
• Pauline Pang, MUFG Bank
• Rachel Parks, Derivative Path, Inc.
• Abir Paul, BMO Capital Markets
• Sara Pianigiani, Standard Chartered
• Grzegorz Pojnar, Santander Bank
• Joshua Randolph, PNC Bank
• Theresa Donnelly-Staerk, Deloitte
• Xi-Ping Tan, Deutsche Bank
• Ruben Valentino, Banorte
• Mouli Vasan, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

About BAFT
BAFT is the leading international financial services association whose membership includes large global and regional banks, service providers, and fintech companies headquartered around the world. BAFT provides advocacy, thought leadership, education, and a global forum for its members in transaction banking, including international trade finance and payments. For nearly a century, BAFT has expanded markets, shaped policy, developed business solutions, and preserved the safety and soundness of the global financial system. Learn more at www.baft.org.

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On July 10, BAFT announced that all scheduled in-person events through January 2021 will be offered as virtual events in light of global uncertainty surrounding COVID-19.

BAFT has continued to monitor the impact of COVID-19 globally, as well as solicit feedback from various members across different regions. Although some countries have started lifting restrictions, several have not, and some cities that started to ease restrictions have delayed further phased re-openings. Policies on travel vary by country and each institution.

The health and safety of our members, attendees, and other stakeholders have always been our primary concern. Given the levels of uncertainty, and with input from our regional councils, the BAFT Board of Directors has approved the recommendation to pivot all planned BAFT in-person events through January 2021 to virtual events.

The events affected are as follows:

* The North America Annual Meeting (Orlando) and the Annual Conference on International Trade (Chicago) were combined into the International Convention.

We are working with our various planning committees to offer you the same quality of conference programming you have come to expect from BAFT while optimizing digital channels to facilitate networking and breakout sessions. Through digital channel delivery, we hope that individuals that may have previously been restricted by travel costs will be able to participate in these BAFT programs. We will provide additional updates on each event as our virtual offerings develop.

For those who already registered for any of the above affected events, there is no action required from you. We will fully refund your registration and cancel your hotel room reservations at our event locations. However, if you reserved a room outside of our official conference hotels, you will need to cancel your booking. We appreciate your patience as we work through all the refunds and room cancellations during the next couple of weeks.

For sponsors of any of these events, our director of business development, Matthew Kaitz ([email protected]), will be in contact soon. We have a host of sponsorship opportunities available at our upcoming virtual events and are happy to discuss these options further with you.

BAFT is committed to continuing to provide you with excellent training, education, and event offerings regardless of the delivery mechanism. For questions on event updates, please check baft.org/our-events or email [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you soon.

We have chosen to postpone our planned North America Annual Meeting, scheduled for May 3-6, and our Regional Bank Conference, scheduled for June 15-16. Both conferences will be rescheduled for November 2020 and consolidated with the 30th Annual Conference on International Trade.

To help stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), BAFT is following the Center for Disease Control’s guidance and recommendations. We have chosen to postpone our planned North America Annual Meeting, scheduled for May 3-6, and our Regional Bank Conference, scheduled for June 15-16. The health and well-being of our members, conference attendees, speakers, sponsors and employees is a top priority for BAFT and we believe this is the best way to ensure their safety at this time.

Both conferences will be rescheduled for November 2020 and consolidated with the 30th Annual Conference on International Trade. We are working closely with BAFT’s Board of Directors and the various Conference Planning Committees to deliver these programs in unison to maximize the value for attendees, speakers and sponsors. We will be in touch with the specific dates and hotel location once they are available.

We would like to thank the relevant committees and individuals who have dedicated their time and resources thus far to helping plan these events, and we remain committed to delivering these programs when it is safe and practical to do so.

We look forward to welcoming you later this year as your continued support is paramount to our joint success.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. We appreciate your understanding, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Due to growing concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19) and subsequent travel restrictions, BAFT has rescheduled its upcoming 2020 MENA Bank to Bank Forum from March 18-19 to September 1-2.

In light of the growing concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19) and subsequent regional travel restrictions, BAFT has decided to postpone its upcoming Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Bank to Bank Forum scheduled for March 18-19, as well as the Master Participation Agreement (MPA) Pre-Conference Workshop on March 17, both to be held in Dubai, UAE. The health and well-being of our members, conference attendees, speakers, sponsors and employees is a top priority for BAFT and we believe this is the best way to ensure their safety at this time.

We have rescheduled the MENA Bank to Bank Forum for September 1-2, while the MPA Pre-Conference Workshop is now scheduled for the afternoon of August 31, both in Dubai. All registrations will be transferred accordingly. If you are no longer able to attend the meeting due to the date change, please contact [email protected].

Currently, all other BAFT conferences remain on schedule and unchanged. Our staff experts will continue to track developments regarding the coronavirus in close coordination with public health officials. We will update you should there be any additional changes to BAFT’s conference schedule. Attendees with questions should feel free to reach out to the BAFT events team directly at [email protected].

We appreciate your understanding.