Board Member

Lucio started his Forfaiting career as trader with West Merchant Bank in 1993, followed by roles at London Forfaiting Company and Nedbank. At Bank of America he had the responsibility of Forfaiting Asia before becoming establishing the Forfaiting Department at Sumitomo Bank in 1999 and becoming Head of Forfaiting. He joined Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd. in London in November 2006 as Head of Forfaiting.

He was elected to the Board of IFA in 2003, and covers the position of Chairman.

Board Member

Steve has held the role Director and Co-Head of Forfaiting at Meinl Bank AG, Vienna since 1999.  Having been one of the founding committee members of the CEE Region of IFA in 2001, he was elected to the Board of IFA in 2003.

After a brief spell at Manufacturers Hanover Trust in 1995/6, he started a career in forfaiting at International Commercial Bank, London. He subsequently joined AWT in 1990 from where he remained in various forfaiting positions within the Creditanstalt Group in London and Vienna until 1997. From 1997 until 1999 he was Assistant Director of Emerging Markets at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, where he was responsible for the forfaiting product.

Board Member

Paolo has held the role of General Manager of the Milan Branch of ABC International Bank Plc. since January, 2005.  He has worked in the international finance market for over 20 years through different banking experiences; he started with Banca Commerciale Italiana in London and then moved to the Milan Branch of Deutsche Bank AG where he concluded in the early 80’s the first forfaiting transaction of the bank in Italy.

In 1988 he joined HVB in Milan as Operation Manager and then set up the Trade & Export Finance Desk with a focus on forfaiting and buyers credit transactions; during those years was member of the Board of Intrafin Ltd, Geneva.  In 1993 he moved to Creditanstalt Bankverein AG Milan as General Manager and two years later he joined the Spanish Banco Sabadell S.A. where he was Managing Director of the Italian subsidiary and Regional Manager for Central & Eastern Europe.

He has worked with the IFA from it’s creation as Chairman of the Southern Europe Regional Committee, and is the organizer of the last Conferences in addition to his role as treasurer.

Board Member

Sema was born in Antalya in 1969, graduating from Bogazici University Istanbul with a bachelors degree in Economics.  She started her banking career at T. Garanti Bankasi in 1992, where she held different positions in corporate marketing units until 1996. In 1996 she joined Societe Generale Istanbul as a senior manager responsible for corporate marketing.

At the beginning of 1998, she joined GarantiBank International (GBI) in Amsterdam to establish the Forfaiting Department. Until May 2007, she was the Head of Global Origination and Distribution at GBI, before becoming the Global Head of Financial Institutions EM at Rabobank International in July 2007.  She was been elected to the Board of IFA NERC in 2002 where she has been responsible for membership until 2005.

Board Member

In 1978 Waltraud Raderschall joined International Banking at Dresdner Bank AG. She held various positions such as Analyst and Relationship Manager for Financial Institutions and Senior Trader in the Forfait -Team before moving to Product Management in Trade Finance.
In June 2008 she returned to Forfaiting - a market very well known to her

Waltraud is a Member of the Board of the International Forfaiting Association (IFA), Zürich. She is also co - chairing the IFA Market Practice Committee as well as being on the Board of the IFA German Regional Committee.

Dresdner Bank AG is a founding member of the IFA.

Board Member

Sal was born in 1963 in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the IFA.  He holds a diploma as an Economist from the University of Lausanne, and is Co-founder, Deputy Chairmain and CEO of SFC Swiss Forfaiting Company Ltd, Zurich (Switzerland), a participated company of Banca popolare dell’Emilia Romagna, Modena (I).

Previously, he was Senior Portfolio Manager at SEI Capital AG, Zurich, a wholly owned company of SEI Investements after spending four years at Finanz AG Zürich, the trade finance investment arm of Credit Suisse Group. Prior to that he spent five years with UBS, where he began as a credit analyst and held various positions in the Swiss domestic and international trade finance as well as corporate finance areas. 

Board Member

Ms. Xiao is the Head of Forfaiting at Bank of China Head Office, with the responsibility of managing the Bank’s forfaiting and risk participation transactions globally. She started her career with Bank of China Head Office in 1994 and has rich experience of over 10 years in letters of credit, guarantees, factoring and a variety of other trade finance products.

She has a BA in Finance and obtained her Master of Laws degree from Peking University.  She was been elected as the Chairperson of IFA NEARC in 2006.

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Board Member

Head of Forfaiting for a major Japanese bank and former Chairman of the North European Regional Committee of the International Forfaiting Association; highly skilled in senior-level negotiation and communication; extensive experience in trade finance transactions and syndicated loans, and with a track record of high achievement in an international forum.

Career Highlights:

• Established the concept of risk asset efficient trade-related loans and in so doing, opened up new markets for the bank

• Substantially expanded the role of the forfaiting team as an important distribution centre for the bank’s assets, adding considerable value to its traditional distribution functions

• Principally instrumental in developing the bank’s forfaiting business in China

• Pioneered blueprint for major strategic change (through switch to primary market focus)

• Established worldwide concept of business development network

• Established new markets in UK, US, Scandinavia and the Baltics

Career History:

2004 to date: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Ltd.
1985 – 2003: London Forfaiting Company (LFC) Plc. 
1997 – 2003: Director
1985 – 1997: Associate Director

2007: Assumed responsibility for all Russian FI trade-related business

2006: Appointed Head of Forfaiting.  Now responsible for trading and business development team of 8 people

2005: Promoted to Assistant General Manager

Given responsibility in late 2001 by the Board for the distressed debt that formed a significant part of LFC’s portfolio of forfaiting assets.  (Staff: 1 junior assistant).  Successful implementation of this recovery programme involved extended overseas travel.  Negotiations were conducted, often under extremely difficult circumstances, with government departments at ministerial level and with local agents and lawyers.

• Recovered over US $50 million - through a combination of full recoveries, restructuring and sales.

• 2002 P&L account enhanced by £6.7 million as a result - sole reason LFC returned to profit that year.

• Personally initiated and developed the ground-breaking principle of opening new business development offices, the first of which was in the north of England and, subsequently, the M4 corridor, Stockholm and Helsinki.

2000: In addition to his existing responsibilities for the UK, Scandinavia and the Baltics, was given responsibility for an expanded trading group, including offices in Milan, Paris and Moscow.  Was able to sustain a significant volume of business - despite more difficult trading conditions. 

1997: Appointed to the main board of LFC which, by then, had become a major public company.  Role widened to include responsibilities for the Group as a whole.

1994: Appointed Director of London Forfaiting International PLC and head of the trading group covering the UK, Scandinavian and Baltic markets.

• Responsible for all new business sourced by them, or bought in London from the secondary market.

• Ran an investment portfolio and placed transactions with banks worldwide. 

• Built up highly talented trading and administration teams - yielding annual trading profits of c£7-8 million.

• Transactions in excess of US $50 million regularly generated and traded through.  (All transactions were booked and traded in London). 

1989-92:  Travelled extensively in the US, and successfully developed a core market for forfaiting, which led to LFC establishing its first US office.

1985: Joined LFC as an Associate Director and senior member of the London trading team.  During first few weeks at the company, pioneered the concept of generating primary forfaiting transactions derived from exporters, through the recruitment of industry specialists in local markets. The objective was to lessen reliance on the banking sector from where the bulk of the business was being obtained.
This was a key strategic change in order to place the business on a long-term footing; this concept established the blueprint for LFC’s future expansion and that of its major competitors. 

1974-1985: London Interstate Bank Ltd.
London Interstate Bank was a consortium bank established in the early 1970s. 

• Appointed Assistant General Manager in 1983 with responsibility for all of the bank’s international lending activities.

• Established successful forfaiting operation in addition to the more conventional direct and syndicated loans business.

• In 1978 joined loans department, initially working with loans administration and moving on to country, bank and corporate risk analysis and marketing, both in the UK and overseas.

• In 1974 started with the accounts department, was then appointed internal auditor reporting directly to an external board director.  Was also responsible for the bank’s adherence to the exchange control regulations in force at that time and was officially sanctioned in this role by the Bank of England.

1972-1974: Bank of Montreal, London.

• Responsible for Inward Bills within the Bills and Documentary Credits department.  Took promotion to work in foreign currency accounting. 

Interests: Travel, tennis, theatre, good food, family life.