HSBC has appointed John Saunders as its new head of commodity and structured trade finance for Australia. Saunders has more than 15 years of experience in banking and commodities and joins HSBC from BNP Paribas Fortis in London where he held a senior relationship management role in commodities.
“The appointment of John Saunders to lead HSBC’s commodities and structured trade business in Australia, combined with HSBC’s on-the-ground global trade advantage, puts the bank in a unique position to grow our business and market share by supporting Australian businesses as they ride the Australian commodities boom,” said Andrew Skinner, head of trade and supply chain for HSBC Australia, in a statement.
In his newly created role, Saunders will be responsible for driving the growth of HSBC’s structuring and financing of high-value transactions throughout the supply chain with a focus on both domestic and cross-border commodity flows.
“Australia’s commodity exports are projected to increase to a record A$251 billion ($270 billion) in 2011/2012, boosted 14% year-on-year by agricultural output and strong demand for commodities from China and the emerging markets of Asia,” said Saunders. “This is a clear growth area, particularly when viewed against the backdrop of an expected 4.2% global economic growth over the same period.”
Saunders reports locally to Andrew Skinner and functionally to the regional commodity and structured trade finance hub in Singapore.
In Australia, HSBC offers trade finance, treasury and financial markets, payments and cash management, securities custody as well as personal and commercial financial services to its clients through its network of 33 branches and offices in the country.
HSBC has been expanding its transaction banking business this year with several senior appointments. Last month, the bank appointed Shirley Leong as its new head of global payments and cash management for Malaysia, to replace Jason Tan who was appointed its new regional head of client management in mid-April this year.
