Stephen is a leading trade finance trainer, author, practitioner and advisor with more than 49 years of experience in the industry.

He has held senior positions in Lloyds Bank, NatWest, and RBS, working in operations (letters of credit, collections, payments, foreign exchange, negotiations), trade finance sales (client solutions and new business origination). During his time as Regional Head of Global Trade Services, he overviewed and structured his team’s trade finance applications prior to submission to the risk department achieving a 97% credit approval success rate.

Stephen left banking in November 2009 to set up AXS Trade Finance Ltd. Since inception, he has been fully engaged helping companies and banks to structure trade and receivable finance deals which meet the client’s needs and allow banks greater control, risk mitigation, transparency, and thus increased credit appetite to lend.

In 2014 Stephen was appointed Consultant Head of Risk for a new alternative market trade financier. During his term of office, Stephen wrote the trade finance credit risk policy and operational instructions for the financier, and headed up its credit risk committee.

Stephen has a very successful track record of delivering public and tailored in-house training to banks and corporates (relationship managers, credit risk managers, sales & customer service teams, trade operations personnel, and bank auditors) on trade finance, supply chain finance (payables and receivables finance), credit risk assessment, AML & sanctions compliance.

His extensive training materials span an enviable library of 35 different virtual training modules and more than 90 case studies and exercises covering the application of the ICC rules and practice through the operational cycle, risk identification and mitigation techniques, credit risk assessment, formulation of trade and commodity finance deal structures, identifying and selling trade & working capital finance solutions, and new business origination.

Over 150 physical and virtual classroom training courses have been delivered in the Middle East, Africa, North America, Europe, and Australia to delegates from more than 75 different countries. Delegate feedback on the quality of Stephen’s training is consistently rated as excellent.

Stephen is also the author, trainer, and assignment assessor for the popular university validated Informa Connect ‘IIF’ 16-week (part time study) distance learning course ‘The Mechanics of International Trade Finance’ which awards a university post graduate certificate at FHEQ level 7 (masters) for successful participants.

He continues to work as a trade finance practitioner, consultant trade advisor and handles letters of credit for his corporate clients (structuring LC terms, preparing documents for presentation, and communicating with banks); this helps to ensure his material is both relevant to today’s market and highly practical.

Stephen is the author of two unique trade finance manuals which have received global acclaim.

‘Trade and Receivables Finance: A Practical Guide to Risk Evaluation and Structuring’

Endorsed by The London Institute of Banking & Finance, this book provides a highly practical ‘go to’ manual on the evaluation of trade credit risk, the operation and optimal structuring of trade products, and the formulation of both documentary and open account financing solutions.

‘The Trade and Receivables Finance Companion: A Collection of Case Studies and Solutions’

This unrivalled comprehensive set of 22 trade finance case studies and solutions covers an extensive range of international trade scenarios. Practical solutions are described and explained. Many chapters contain detailed step by step ‘hands on’ guidance using ‘deal sheet’ extracts.

Both books are published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Please click here to view Stephen’s profile on LinkedIn.