BNY Mellon hires payments and trade head for Asia

Bank of New York Mellon has appointed Richard Brown as managing director and head of international payments and trade services for Asia, with India, China, Korea and Japan highlighted as key growth markets.

Brown joins from Bank of America, where, as a senior Asia-Pacific business executive, he managed global treasury services in Asia.

In his new role, he will be responsible for managing and building BNY Mellon's delivery of payment and trade services, including trade outsourcing, US dollar clearing and cross-border payments, to clients in Asia. Based in Hong Kong he will report to David Cruikshank, BNY Mellon's global manager for treasury services sales.

His appointment comes at a challenging time for trade financiers who face volatile commodity prices, re-pricing of risk and surging credit rates. A decline in regional trade flows is also forecast and experts say Asia is not immune to the global economic slowdown.

"The current environment and corresponding shortage of liquidity to support global trade, has prompted the increasing use of traditional trade instruments, such as letters of credit," says Cruikshank.

"While this increased demand and related wider margins create opportunities for the large trade banks, we also see higher levels of risk. For example, commodity prices are so volatile that they are changing dramatically from the time the boat leaves the port to when it reaches its destination."

Brown replaces Gerard Sheridan who has relocated back to New York to take up a new position within treasury services at BNY Mellon.

Brown has extensive experience in financial services, and has held senior positions with Citibank Canada and Citigroup in Hong Kong, according to BNY Mellon. He has also served as a consultant with McKinsey & Company.

With locations in 34 countries on six continents and a network of more than 2,000 correspondent financial institutions, BNY Mellon’s treasury services group offers services for global payments, trade services, cash management, capital markets, foreign exchange and derivatives. It helps clients to optimise cash flow, manage liquidity and make payments more efficiently around the world in more than 100 currencies.