Trade Finance Manager

About this role

Trade Finance & Insurance makes it possible for a seller to ship to a buyer they have never met — credit insurance, letters of credit, guarantees and the risk view behind them.

Own the instruments that move money against documents: letters of credit, bank guarantees, standbys and the discounting behind them. Most of the job is making sure a document set will not be rejected on a technicality nobody spotted.

Cross-border trade fails on trust and on documents, in that order. The instruments here are old and unforgiving: a discrepancy on a document set can hold payment for weeks, and a credit limit set carelessly becomes a loss six months later. Multiple jurisdictions, multiple regulators, and rules that reward people who have read the actual text.

Primary responsibilities

• Manage the trade finance instruments the business runs on — letters of credit, documentary collections, guarantees and standby credits
• Structure the financing for a transaction so both sides can transact without either carrying the whole risk
• Manage the banking relationships and the facilities behind them
• Ensure documentary compliance under UCP 600, because a discrepancy holds payment for weeks
• Manage working capital across the trade cycle and the cost of financing it
• Handle sanctions and compliance screening on every transaction, without exception

Skills required

Day to day this role works with Letters of Credit, UCP 600, Bank Guarantees and Structured Trade.

• Seven or more years in trade finance at a bank or a large trading house
• Command of UCP 600, ISBP and URDG — you can settle a discrepancy argument from the text
• CDCS certification an advantage