BAFT is the leading global forum for bringing the financial community, its solution providers and stakeholders together to collaborate on defining best market practices that facilitate efficient delivery of trade and cash management products and service offerings for their clients. 

Required Work Experience & Education

Prior Experience: 9-11 years

Education Required: 4-Year Degree

Job Summary

This position is the primary subject matter expert that supports all international trade and SCF related initiatives of the association.  The role is dedicated to advancing the goals of the international trade community through promotion of thought leadership, development of best practice guidance, policy advocacy and education. This is a critical senior leadership position in BAFT reporting to the CEO, with high industry visibility, and is an essential contributor to the success of the Association.  

The incumbent will directly support and oversee the various trade related committees, councils and working groups to define the industry priorities, assess common concerns and opportunities, and drive collaborative solutions to advance the interests of the industry. This requires subject matter knowledge to be able to synthesize concerns and develop meaningful plans to address them. This involves engaging in policy advocacy on a global basis and building industry coalitions with local or other global industry organizations to support engagement in various geographies. The incumbent is responsible for delivering white papers that can be leveraged for BAFT initiatives, by partner industry organizations, as well as by BAFT members for their own engagement with local regulators. As a subject matter expert for trade and SCF, the incumbent will also support trade-related education initiatives, conferences and workshops, and will represent the organization in various industry forums. 

The incumbent must be familiar with the roles, responsibilities, and processes of financial institutions (and non-banks) in the execution of trade finance across various products including documentary trade, guarantees/standby LCs, supply chain finance, receivables, structured trade, distribution and other trade related products.  The incumbent should also have familiarity with trade finance rules, technology, standards bodies, regulatory concerns and the broad trade ecosystem.  Understanding the role of other industry associations, governmental counterparties and MDBs, and having working relationships with those entities is very helpful.

Key Duties

Define and lead priority initiatives for trade for BAFT (50%) 

• Secretariat for Global Trade Industry Council and trade committees 

• Secretariat for various Trade committees and working groups 

• Monitor developments around the globe impacting trade including economic, geopolitical, business and policy related issues and form ad hoc discussion groups and webinars to address industry needs. 

• Establish, organize, recruit participation and coordinate work of industry committees and councils to address major trade related issues 

• Establish and provide domain expertise for BAFT and contribute to critical industry initiatives (e.g. Digitization, financial inclusion, capital/liquidity, etc.) 

• Develop and publish papers that can be used as tools, standards, guidance, and/or reference for moving issues resolution forward 

• Monitor emerging technology solutions impacting the trade business and serve as subject matter expert in support of industry initiatives 

• Liaise with other industry bodies to share information as appropriate (e.g. ICC, ITFA, FCI, SWIFT, WTO, Exim Bank, SBA, etc.) 

Lead trade-related advocacy for BAFT (15%) 

• Monitor policy issues and develop positions to be communicated to policy makers. 

• Develop policy recommendations on trade related issues in conjunction with the membership and stakeholders in the industry. 

• Provide advisory support to policy makers and regulators to better understand the practical implications of policy actions on business. 

• Engage with global policy makers and regulators to address trade policy concerns. 

• Write comment letters and meet with regulators and policy makers in various jurisdictions to advance the interests of the global trade community on behalf of BAFT. 

Subject matter support for trade-related education for BAFT (15%) 

• Participate in conference planning committees (as needed) to support trade subject matter thought leadership and identification of industry speakers on topics. 
• Partner with events and payments colleagues on development and execution of Trade & Payments Conference. 
• Work with education team to ensure that programs are developed that meet the needs of the trade finance industry and are qualitatively sound. 

Member Engagement (10%) 

• Ensure active member participation in trade committees, working groups, advocacy efforts and related work streams. 
• Identify and develop relationships with potential members important to the trade related initiatives of BAFT, particularly senior leaders. 
• Work with BAFT staff, Board, and Regional Councils to identify the core value proposition for membership as it relates to trade finance. 

Industry Engagement (10%) 

• Ensure awareness of ongoing industry initiatives led by other public and private entities that affect the trade finance industry and advise members accordingly. 
• Build and maintain close relationships with industry bodies and stakeholders who are also involved in advancing issues for the trade community and include BAFT where appropriate. 
• Partner with industry bodies to help deliver and execute BAFT initiatives. 
• Participate in and contribute to industry work streams of importance to BAFT and its members (as appropriate).  

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years’ work-related experience in trade finance, preferably in the financial services industry 

• Work experience should consist of in-depth experience in trade products within a financial institution and a broader understanding of global trade.   

• Strong technical expertise in Trade Finance including traditional trade, open account trade, and structured trade/export finance products 

• Excellent communication skills including oral, written, and presentation 

• Good understanding of the role of credit, risk management, operations, regulatory compliance and relative understanding of decision processes within the context of executing trade transactions 

• Demonstrated project management and execution experience  

• Demonstrated maturity, organizational, and leadership ability 

• Strong relationship-building acumen 

• Ability to communicate with executives and committee members on complex industry issues
• Ability to manage interactions with BAFT committee members, regulatory stakeholders, and outside experts to achieve organizational goals 

• Ability to engage effectively with an international audience in both bi-lateral and industry meetings    

Supervision/Authority

• No direct supervision authority 

Travel

• Estimated travel is 15%.