Deutsche Bank has appointed Atul Jain and Oliver Resovac to jointly head the bank’s Trade  Finance and Lending (TF&L) business. 

“The appointment of Atul and Oliver from within the Bank demonstrates our expert bench  strengths in trade finance. As Global Hausbank to many of the world’s most international  corporates, securing trade flows has become core and centre to us given the current  political environment,” explained Stefan Hoops, Head of Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Bank. “With this co-leadership structure and Atul’s and Oliver’s home base in Germany and Asia  Pacific, we are ideally positioned to further benefit from the growing importance of Asia  Pacific for global trade.”  

With more than 20 years of experience across Deutsche Banks’s corporate and investment  banking, both in the US and in Asia-Pacific, Atul Jain is one the bank’s most seasoned trade  finance experts. He currently runs the bank’s Asia-Pacific Trade Finance and Lending  business. Atul is based in Singapore. 

Oliver Resovac has been with Deutsche Bank in London and Frankfurt for more than 20  years. He joined the Corporate Bank from the bank’s investment bank where he was  previously Head of Illiquid and Complex Risk. Oliver will be based in Frankfurt.  

Trade finance business for banks has undergone enormous change over the past few years  as technology, geopolitics, the pandemic and technology have rearranged the competitive  landscape together with increased levels and complexity of risk. The Co-Head structure for  the bank’s trade finance business reflects those changes.  

The trade finance landscape is bigger – there is more global trade 

In 2021, trade finance volumes bounced back from the pandemic’s impact, with the United  Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recording an all-time high of  US$28.5trn, an increase of almost 13% on pre-pandemic levels.  

Structured financing has become more demanding 

As demand for infrastructure financing ramps up and geopolitical tensions highlight possible  commodities security issues, structured commodity trade finance deals and structured  export finance deals are increasingly in demand. In particular, as they provide the  opportunity to deliver ESG-aligned structures for corporate and institutional clients that  make it possible to align sustainable behaviour with lending terms.