New Steering Committee appointed to lead ICC Banking Commission

As part of a number of changes implemented by ICC to strengthen the institutions’ work in this domain, the new leadership of the Commission will consist of a single Steering Committee comprising a Chair and 12 Vice-Chairs – each appointed for initial three-year terms.

The Steering Committee will work with the ICC Global Headquarters team to provide strategic direction for ICC’s work on trade, supply-chain and export finance – overseeing the delivery of a range of new and enhanced projects in areas such as digitalisation, sustainability and the capital treatment of trade assets.

The new leadership group – appointed today by ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO – is as follows:

Chair

• Lynn Ng, Global Head of Commodities, Food and Agri, ING (Netherlands)

Vice-Chairs

• Mencia Bobo, Global Head of Trade & Working Capital Solutions, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Spain)
• Marilyn Blattner-Hoyle, Global Head Trade Finance, Director, Corporate Solutions Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd (Switzerland)
• Merlin Dowse, Global Trade Product Manager, J.P. Morgan (United States)
• Yina Fu, Head of Financial Ecology Solutions, Alibaba B-To-B Business Group (China)
• Andrew Kigira, Group Head of Trade Products, Equity Bank Ltd (Kenya)
• Maria Jose Llabot, Head of International, Banco de la Provincial de Córdoba (Argentina)
• Samuel-John Mathew, Global Head of Flow & FI Trade, Standard Chartered (Singapore)
• Caryn Pace-Messenger, Director, Bank of America (United States)
• Surath Sengupta, Managing Director & Global Head – FI, Portfolio & Distribution, HSBC (United Kingdom)
• Louise Taylor Digby, Head of Global Trade Strategy, SWIFT (Singapore)
• Florian Witt, Managing Director, Divisional Head, International Banking and Corporate Banking; Member of the Group Business Executive Committee, ODDO BHF (Germany)
• Xu Jun, Deputy General Manager, Global Transaction Banking, Bank of China (China)

Commenting on the appointments, Mr Denton said: “We see an absolute imperative to smooth the flow of cost-effective trade credit to small businesses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m confident that the new leadership of the Banking Commission will provide us with the diversity of technical, industry and regional expertise needed to enhance the impact of our work in this vital area for global real economy.

“I look forward to working with Lynn and the new Vice-Chairs of the Commission to make a concerted effort to tackle the pervasive trade finance gap which – left unaddressed – risks placing a significant drag on the recovery from Covid-19.”

ICC recently announced a renewed work programme for its Banking Commission for 2021-22 – establishing a clearer focus on value-add activities and fully leveraging synergies with other institutional projects, such as the ICC Digital Standards Initiative.

The new Chair of the Banking Commission, Lynn Ng said: “I’m honored to take on the leadership of the Banking Commission at such a critical time for the trade finance market. I’m committed, working with ICC’s global network, to rebuild trust in the trade ecosystem and accelerating industry efforts in critical areas such as sustainability and digitalization. Together we can make a real difference in enabling a resilient rebuild from the Covid-19 pandemic.”