Press Releases

BAFT has announced Jose Luis Calderon, global head of global transaction banking at Santander, as the new chair of its Transaction Banking Global Leaders (TBGL) group.

WASHINGTON — Jose Luis Calderon, global head of global transaction banking at Santander, succeeds Diane Reyes, group general manager and global head of global liquidity and cash management at HSBC, who led the group for the past two years.

The TBGL brings together the leaders of the industry’s largest transaction banks to discuss solutions to common points of interest where cross-industry collaboration is required. Current topics of discussion include regulatory compliance, financial crime mitigation, payments and trade innovation, IBOR transition, human capital development and increasing the profile of the transaction banking industry.

“I am thrilled with the opportunity to chair BAFT’s Transaction Banking ‎Global Leaders Group at such challenging times,” said Calderon. “Our industry has proven essential to maintaining companies’ access to banking services, controlling their liquidity and funding their working capital needs, and ultimately, being close to our clients when they most need us.”

Calderon joined Santander in 1997 and has held various positions in Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB) division. Since 2004, Calderon has occupied different management roles within Santander CIB, acting as product manager of GTB Europe, head of GTB Iberia and head of GTB Europe until 2014, when he was appointed global head of global transaction banking managing a team of more than 500 professionals. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from Universidad de Cantabria, and is a member of various international bodies such as the SWIFT Board and IBOS Association.

“Jose has been an active and valuable contributor to the TBGL since he joined five years ago, and has been an important leader in the transaction banking industry more broadly,” said Tod Burwell, BAFT president and CEO. “The industry is facing unprecedented challenges at this time, and collaboration is paramount to moving forward. We look forward to the future under Jose’s leadership.”

The group includes 18 institutions from across multiple continents, bringing geographic diversity and balance to the industry dialogue. Participants collectively represent a significant share of the transaction banking services offered by financial institutions.

About BAFT
BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, helps bridge solutions across financial institutions, service providers and the regulatory community that promote sound financial practices enabling innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. BAFT engages on a wide range of topics affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance. The association website is www.baft.org.

 

BAFT Media Contact:
Blair Bernstein
[email protected]
+ 1 (202) 663-5468

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BAFT today released the Certificate in Introductory Transaction Banking (CITB), an online self-guided study through the basics of global transaction banking (GTB). The certificate is an effort to address a gap in readily available education for those looking to understand transaction banking and is available via the BAFT Learning Management System.

WASHINGTON — BAFT, the leading global trade association for transaction banking, today released the Certificate in Introductory Transaction Banking (CITB), an online self-guided study through the basics of global transaction banking (GTB). The certificate covers payments, trade, and compliance for entry-level bankers or for those transferring into GTB from another discipline within the bank.

The certificate is an effort to address a gap in readily available education for those looking to understand transaction banking.

“BAFT has always been a channel for delivering quality training and education, however, we noticed a significant need to educate the next generation of bankers on the basics of transaction banking,” said Tod Burwell, president and CEO, BAFT. “We are excited to share this certificate with the industry, which complements some of our other human capital development offerings such as our Future Leaders Program.”

Participants will obtain a basic understanding of the key transaction banking services including cash management, trade finance, compliance, correspondent banking and cross-border payments; in addition to common industry terminology, and the role these products play in the banking industry. Finally, candidates will understand the rich history of transaction banking, where it stands in its evolution today, and explore the innovative efforts being made by the industry.

The certificate is comprised of seven courses, which is expected to take a candidate roughly five to seven hours to complete. Each course is self-study with detailed voice overviews from the authors, including knowledge checks, cases studies, and concludes with a mandatory exam.

To develop the certificate, BAFT convened a core advisory group of global correspondent bankers who specialize in each of the core areas of transaction banking. BAFT’s Certificate in Introductory Transaction Banking provides a strong foundation for new hires as well as more senior staff that are new to transaction banking.

“Having an awareness of the core elements is critical to ultimately mastering transaction banking as the business is complex and continues to evolve rapidly,” said Chuck Kohler, an advisor and EVP, global payment services, Wells Fargo.

Advisors George Adrianos of BNP Paribas, John Ladany of Citi, Barry Tooker of iSoftware4Banks and Inna Gogoua of PNC Bank were also instrumental in the development and review of the certificate.

The courses were authored by well-known industry experts Craig Weeks and Alexander Malaket.

The Certificate in Introductory Transaction Banking is available on the BAFT Learning Management System here.

For inquires or to find out about group pricing please contact Shawn Haynes at [email protected].

About BAFT
BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, helps bridge solutions across financial institutions, service providers and the regulatory community that promote sound financial practices enabling innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. BAFT engages on a wide range of topics affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance. The association website is www.baft.org.

BAFT Media Contact:
Blair Bernstein
[email protected]
+ 1 (202) 663-5468

Follow us on Twitter: @BAFT
Follow us on LinkedIn: BAFT

On August 17, BAFT published its 2020 Annual Review Digest covering major activities and achievements for FY2019-2020 including advocacy issues, industry initiatives, thought leadership, educational offerings, events, membership statistics, and more.

The challenges of 2020 have led us all to quickly shift our priorities and methods of operation. Much of the value of BAFT is rooted in personal engagement in various markets. However, we managed to keep our community connected virtually and hosted 29 educational offerings ranging from in-person workshops and conferences to online training, webinars, and virtual events.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the association hosted workshops in three new countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and South Korea; as well as traditional in-person events in Beijing, Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Mumbai, New York, Singapore, and Toronto. Since March 2020, BAFT has offered a range of virtual events, which resulted in a three-fold increase in our global event attendance.

We expanded our membership footprint and welcomed 25 new members including 17 banks and 8 solution providers; several of which represent new countries in the BAFT global community including Afghanistan, Belize, Cambodia, Djibouti, Oman, and Taiwan. With 284 members, BAFT membership now collectively represents 63 countries spread across six continents.

Our policy and subject matter experts have continued to drive forward a broad list of issues most important to our members and delivered advocacy wins covering AML Framework Reform, Correspondent Banking De-Risking, Cross-Border Payments, IBOR Transition, Reauthorization of U.S. EXIM Bank, and Supply Chain Finance Practices to name a few. Throughout the year, we continued to promote thought leadership and produced 11 white papers related to trade, innovation, payments, regulation, and transaction banking.

This past year saw BAFT launch two leadership councils to provide additional structure and guidance in member services: the Africa Council covering sub-Saharan Africa and the Global Payments Industry Council covering treasury, cash management, and payments. We also stood up new working groups to address industry issues and developments including the Buna regional payment platform, cross-border instant payments, supply chain payables finance, and RMAs.

We appreciate the continued support, engagement and commitment of our members and staff. You may view or download the 2020 BAFT Annual Review Digest here.

Please feel free to contact us at [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] based on your inquiry.

On June 11, BAFT announced it has created a regional council to provide guidance and leadership for member services in sub-Saharan Africa. The council will bring together senior transaction banking leaders from organizations across Africa, looking to address common challenges in trade, payments, liquidity, regulations and innovation.

WASHINGTON — BAFT announced today it has created a regional council to provide guidance and leadership for member services in sub-Saharan Africa. The council will be led by co-chairs Ihunanya Onuoha of Access Bank PLC (Nigeria), and Kevin Holmes of Standard Bank (South Africa), who will also serve on the BAFT Board of Directors.

Onuoha is the group head of corporate operations for Access Bank, with more than 25 years of experience in domestic, international banking operations and trade finance.

“Access Bank prides itself in being at the forefront of positive change, driving innovations in the financial services sector as well as setting standards for sustainable business practices in all the markets that we serve,” said Onuoha. “We are delighted to join BAFT in promoting and pushing innovation in the global space, increasing impact in the financial services sector through the formation and implementation of policies geared towards improving financial services globally.”

Holmes, head of trade product management, worked with BAFT for several months to establish initial plans for the council.

“I am honored to be part of the BAFT team, having worked with the council in various capacities during my tenure in trade finance,” said Holmes. “As African economies start the process of recovery, I am optimistic that through the Africa Free Trade Agreement, underpinned by the guidance and collective experience within the BAFT Africa Council, the region will exit this pandemic stronger. Standard Bank is taking a leading role in realizing the scale of this opportunity and we remain committed to playing a more meaningful role in addressing the growing trade finance gap.”

The council will bring together senior transaction banking leaders from organizations across Africa, looking to address common challenges in trade, payments, liquidity, regulations and innovation. Topics such as capital treatment for trade finance, transition from LIBOR, payments innovation, and de-risking in correspondent banking are among the various concerns of organizations in the region.

BAFT maintains regional councils in Asia, Europe, the Middle East & North Africa and North America to enable the transaction banking community to best leverage the association to address issues within the local region.

“We are delighted to re-establish the Africa Council to ensure proper engagement of one of the increasingly important regions for trade, payments and innovation,” said Tod Burwell, president and CEO, BAFT.

About BAFT
BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, helps bridge solutions across financial institutions, service providers and the regulatory community that promote sound financial practices enabling innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. BAFT engages on a wide range of topics affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance.

BAFT Media Contact:
Blair Bernstein
[email protected]
+ 1 (202) 663-5468

Follow us on Twitter: @BAFT
Follow us on LinkedIn: BAFT

On May 21, BAFT announced the graduates of its Future Leaders Program class of 2020 whose research presentations and papers are now available online.

WASHINGTON – BAFT, an international financial services association, today announced the graduates of its Future Leaders Program class of 2020. The program – now completing its fifth year – recognizes upcoming leaders in the global transaction banking industry.

Nominated by their respective institutions, the class of 2020 included 30 individuals from 14 countries and a variety of disciplines within transaction banking. This year’s group was divided into four project teams to address current industry issues including the impacts of SWIFT gpi, the profitability of sustainable finance, IBOR transitions and a comparison of faster payments systems globally.

“We are very proud of this year’s class of future leaders,” said Tod Burwell, President & CEO, BAFT. “They were able to collaborate and adapt through this unprecedented crisis to achieve their goals, producing high quality content and thought leadership for our members.”

The Future Leaders webinars and research papers are available for all BAFT members online here. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the formal graduation ceremony has been postponed and will be held at the 2020 BAFT International Convention on November 15 in Orlando, Florida.

BAFT congratulates the following graduates from the Class of 2020.

• Suzan Al (Imam) Husseini, Arab Bank
• Caitlin Blasi, CoBank
• Carla Dodds, Banco Santander
• Fadel Elassa, Standard Chartered Bank
• Maria I Galvez, BBVA
• Brian Goldwasser, Commerzbank
• Andrew Hale, ANZ Banking Group
• David Hehlen, UBS
• Lewis Heptonstall, Wells Fargo Bank
• Adrian Hofer, Credit Suisse
• Venkata P Javaji, Visa
• Tarun Khosla, Citibank
• Kamna Krishnan, BMO
• Alfred Lam, Shanghai Commercial Bank
• Jing Wei Joel Lim, Bank of America
• Steven Liu, HSBC
• Tania Markovic, Royal Bank of Canada
• Lee Phahladira, Rand Merchant Bank
• Harro Prins, ING Bank
• Luis Quilico, UniCredit
• Alexander Rakhmanin, Société Générale
• Yasminie Ramos, Barclays
• Harsh Shah, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics
• Terence Tan, BNY Mellon
• Akshat Tiwari, MUFG
• Huy Tran, BNP Paribas
• Niels Brand Van Duinen, INTL FCStone
• Michael Walker, Finastra
• Hebe Wildi, Lloyds Banking Group
• Hoor Yar, Deutsche Bank

BAFT would like to congratulate its board officers on their re-election to the 2020-2021 association year and also welcome new directors Maurice Iskandar, Banque Libano-Française; Robert Mancini, Finastra; Nick Smit, ING; Robert Hostler, JPMorgan; and Michael Vrontamitis, Standard Chartered Bank.

WASHINGTON — BAFT, an international financial services association, announced today Mark Garfield of Zions Bancorporation will serve a second term as the chair of its board of directors for the 2020-2021 association year.

Garfield is the head of global financial institutions at Zions and a long serving member of the BAFT board. He has over 30 years of banking experience, with more than 25 years covering trade finance, foreign exchange and correspondent banking. Garfield has served on the DEC National Advisory Board, Board of the World Trade Center (Utah), and as Chair of the Utah District Export Council.

“I look forward to continuing to serve as the board chair for BAFT,” said Garfield. “In a time of unusual crisis, BAFT continues to support its members by providing thought leadership, best practices, and serving as a global advocate for the transaction banking industry.”

BAFT board officers include:

• Vice Chair: Raffaele Martino, Intesa Sanpaolo
• Secretary / Treasurer: Stephanie Wolf, Bank of America

Other directors include:

• Maram Al-Jazireh, Arab Bank
• Tod Burwell (CEO), BAFT
• Maurice Iskandar, Banque Libano-Française
• Patrick Gmür, Credit Suisse
• Miriam Ratkovicova, Deloitte
• Ulf-Peter Noetzel, Deutsche Bank
• Robert Mancini, Finastra
• Amy Sahm, Fulton Financial Corporation
• Patricia Gomes, HSBC
• Nick Smit, ING
• Robert Hostler, JPMorgan
• Steve Lotito, MUFG
• Mark Borton, National Australia Bank
• Jonathan Elkins, National Bank of Canada
• Kimberly Burdette, PNC
• Bart Timmermans, Santander UK
• Michael Vrontamitis, Standard Chartered Bank
• Tarik Muzaffar, TD Bank
• Christian Stolcke, UBS
• F. H. Ahlborn, US Bank
• Kai Fehr, Wells Fargo

About BAFT
BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, helps bridge solutions across financial institutions, service providers and the regulatory community that promote sound financial practices enabling innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. BAFT engages on a wide range of topics affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance.

BAFT Media Contact:
Blair Bernstein
[email protected]
+ 1 (202) 663-5468

Follow us on Twitter: @BAFT
Follow us on LinkedIn: BAFT