Standard Chartered appoints commodity trading heads

Standard Chartered Bank is showing its faith in the commodity industry with the recent appointment of three new country heads for its commodity trading and agribusiness (CTA) û in China, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. The UK-headquartered bank says the appointments, which come at a time of slumping commodity prices, will strengthen its position to support customers active in the commodity sector. The move is also in line with its strategy to deepen the focus in its core markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Ian Mote, who was previously head of CTA for Dubai, transferred to Shanghai in December to become head of CTA for China. Mote has been with Standard Chartered for more than 13 years and has held a variety of roles both within the bankÆs structured trade finance team and within CTA, in London and Hong Kong. He will also be joining the CTA global management team.

His role in Dubai will be taken over by Subramanian Krishnamurthy, a Standard Chartered veteran with more than 12 years at the bank. During this time he has been involved in various credit and relationship roles covering the UAE, Iran, Kuwait and North Africa, making him extremely familiar with the Middle East and North Africa region.

Meanwhile, the bank has hired Nelson Batubara from Rabobank as its new head of CTA for Indonesia. Batubara has been with Rabobank Jakarta for over 15 years and has held various roles within corporate banking and treasury. For the past 10 years he has been a member of the commodity finance team.

ôChina, Indonesia and UAE are key markets in Standard Chartered BankÆs footprint and we have been operating in these markets for many years. The new leadership put in place in each of these markets will strengthen the bankÆs commodity and local market knowledge and gives a boost to consolidate the offerings that the bank provides to its commodity clients,ö says Willem Klaassens, Standard CharteredÆs global head of CTA.