• Published on 4 September 2017
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Westpac strengthens Structured Commodities Finance team in Asia with two appointments

Westpac Banking Corporation, Australia’s first bank, has further strengthened its Structured Commodities Finance (SCF) team with two new appointments in Asia: Zongyuan Li joins the team as a Director and Nikita Kabanovs as an Associate Director.

Based in Shanghai and reporting to Paul Gardner, Global Head of Structured Commodity Finance and June Fu, General Manager of Westpac’s Shanghai branch, Zongyuan will help the SCF team to further grow its capabilities in the region.

Prior to joining Westpac last month, Zongyuan held the role of Deputy Head of Structuring Business Development in China and Asia at Mercuria (China) Metal Resources Co. Ltd. With over 15 years of experience across structured trade finance, commodity derivatives, physical trading and investment in the Chinese market, Zongyuan has held senior positions at Trafigura Investment China, New Enterprise Investment and Standard Chartered Bank in China and Singapore.

Based in Singapore, Nikita will report to Kevin Khoo, Director, Structured Commodity Finance, Asia and support the team with his extensive experience in repo and prepayments within both oil and soft commodities.

Prior to joining Westpac in July, Nikita was previously an Associate with the Structured Finance in Commodities and Natural Resources team at ABN AMRO Bank. Covering Vietnam, China, Australia and the LME warehouse locations in Asia Pacific, he was responsible for prepayments, borrowing bases, repos and ECA-covered loans for energy, metals and agriculture.

Zongyuan and Nikita will play key roles in Westpac’s SCF activities across Asia, continuing to deliver world class financing capabilities and solutions to clients.

Commenting on the appointments, Mr. Gardner said: “We are delighted to welcome Zongyuan and Nikita to our team. These highly experienced individuals bring with them a wealth of industry expertise. We are seeing increased demand from customers who require in-depth expertise in commodities and commodities financing, and insights into managing and hedging commodity price risk. Our SCF products are able to offer tailored solutions, providing real value for customers. These new appointments will further add to our deep expertise in this field.”

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker