Deutsche Bank nabs Paul Gardner for structured trade business

Deutsche Bank has appointed Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) Paul Gardner as managing director and Asia-Pacific regional head of structured trade and export finance, effective immediately. He is replacing David Barnes who left the bank last year.

"Paul is an important addition to our team and will lead our growth strategy for structured trade finance in Asia," said Thomas DuCharme, Asia-Pacific regional head of global transaction banking. "His experience and industry knowledge will further strengthen our established trade finance footprint in Asia and enable us to develop our project finance advisory capabilities."

According to Deutsche, Gardner's appointment will expand its global network of structured trade and project finance experts and extend its on-the-ground coverage of this growing business segment in Asia. The bank currently has nine structured trade staff in Asia, split between its China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore offices.

A representative of the bank said it is "selectively" hiring additional structured trade talent in the region and will announce additional hires "shortly".

Deutsche is not the only institution beefing up its structured trade team. South Africa's Standard Bank expanded its structured trade team with the appointment of Tee Chong Ong as Asia head of structured trade finance in August 2009 and other institutions also report plans to expand the business line.

Singapore-based Gardner joins Deutsche after nearly five years with RBS, and ABN AMRO, before it was acquired by the British institution. There he worked as executive director and Asia head of structured lending, focusing on projects in China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Prior to joining ABN AMRO, Gardner held various cross-border structured finance positions at Bank of America and Lloyds Bank.

Barnes, Deutsche's former Asia-Pacific regional head of structured trade and export finance, left the bank last year to pursue "personal interests". Barnes took up the position in February 2007 when he joined from ANZ. During his time at Deutsche he worked on deals including a five-year receivables finance facility to a Chinese renewable energy company last year and a $40 million pre-export finance facility for the Philippine's Platinum Group Metals in 2008.

The popularity of structured trade and export finance increased last year when traditional trade credit lines dried up. According to the World Bank, there was a $100 billion global shortfall in available trade financing in the first half of 2009. While it took structured trade and export finance agencies time to ramp up, national export credit agencies increased lending throughout the year. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the Export-Import Bank of the US more than tripled its lending from a year earlier, authorising guarantees worth $9.9 billion versus $3.28 billion in 2008.