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Title: |
Manager International Trade Services Department
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Location: |
US-California-Los Angeles
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Work History: |
Arif A. Ali
2111 Feldott Lane, Naperville, IL 60540, USA
Tel: H: (630)355-1416 Cell: (630)544-8308
E-mail: arif-ali@sbcglobal.net
Career Precis
A high profile multi-lingual professional with more than ten years of post graduate managerial experience in Credit, Trade Finance Operations and Sales and Customer Service. Detailed knowledge of banking procedures and policy principles at all levels.
Major Achievements
Re-engineered an International Banks Trade business in Dubai enabling the bank to reduce the cost of processing letters of credit and trade documents. The projected saving was estimated at USD 250K.
Assisted an international bank in its penetration of the UAEs trade market. Instrumental in on-boarding of new customers thereby increasing the trade business by USD 50 million.
Successful evaluation and implementation of Toyota Motor Companys project for the setting up of motor vehicles assembly plant worth more than USD 100 million. The project has been highly successful.
Successful recovery of stuck up loans worth more than USD 40 million through negotiation and legal action.
Employment Experience
City National Bank
Vice President / Manager Intl Trade Services
International Trade Services Department 2011-Todate
Responsible for the strategic planning, long term direction, budget and management of International Trade Services Department.. Manage the Department through Operations managers and Team leaders. specialized in processing various trade products such as Letters of Credit which includes Commercial Import & Export & Standby L/Cs, Bankers Acceptances & Documentary Collections.
Responsible for driving the performance review cycle including, drafting and delivering annual objectives and performance reviews.
Monitor performance and initiate training discussions, feedback and personal development plans to assist employee development.
Mentor, coach and motivate employees in their development efforts.
Observe industry trends and translate impact to the development of employees.
Provide guidance to department and clients by resolving non-routine or the most complex issues.
Establish procedures and policies for the teams to ensure standards and agreements are achieved.
Act as the product expert and liaison to contacts within the industry and within the bank..
Responsible for on-boarding new clients and products. This includes allocating resources and developing new procedures/processes.
Provide expertise and guidance in structuring transactions and deals.
Monitor technical expertise of staff and arrange technical training of the groups.
Ultimately responsible for the hiring/firing of employees.
JP Morgan Chase Bank- Chicago
Senior Analyst
Global Trade Services, TSS 2008 - 2011
Assisted the bank in setting up Global Trades Pre and Post Processing Operations which includes managing the preparation and scanning of trade documents to India for processing at its Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore Processing Centers and in resolving all issues pertaining to outsourcing of trade processing.
Participated in the preparation and scanning/imaging of all North America bound letter of credit and documentary collection documents for processing at the Banks Chennai Processing Center and in the post processing of those documents in Chicago according to the instructions provided by the customers.
ABN AMRO / LaSalle Bank 2001 - 2007
Manager Seattle Operations/Operations Manager Chicago
Global Trade and Advisory, North America
Managed the trade finance operations of ABN AMRO Bank and its client Key Bank for the entire Northwestern United States including the monitoring of credit limits, syndicated loans, issuance of import L/Cs, standby L/Cs (guarantees, counter-guarantees, bid bonds, performance bonds) scrutiny/checking of documents and payments, export L/C advising and adding confirmation, scrutiny and negotiation of export documents and customer service.
Provided assistance and consultative support to trade finance relationship managers in the marketing of trade products, in the resolution of trade related problems and regarding the structure, legal issues and use of letters of credits. Acted as the primary trade service advisor for all of Key Banks Northwestern United States branches.
Worked closely with relationship managers, customers, bank lawyers, client services and other parties including document preparation companies on matters related to the analysis of market segmentation for sales process and client coverage, issuance of documentary credits and collections and other trade services products including standby L/Cs.
Worked with product and trade sales managers to develop product strategies and performed market and competitor analysis
Managed the Department responsible for the Pre/Post Processing of all North America bound Letter of Credit and Documentary Collection documents with particular emphasis on ensuring compliance with OFAC, Anti-Boycott, CAAML, KYC, Reputational Risk and Suspicious Activity.
Managed the File room which was the Custodian of all paper folders for the North America Operations maintained in a high density file storage location with state of the art file tracking and retrieval system.
Managed the Mailroom and the Document Scanning Unit of North America Trade Operations which was responsible for data off-shoring to Chennai (India) for document checking and transaction processing. This unit also ensured account reconciliation.
Habib Bank Limited, Dubai 1998 - 2001
Manager Trade Services UAE/Credit Manager
Managed Trade Services, Credit & Risk, Syndicated Loans, Marketing, Asset Remedial Management (Recovery of bad & doubtful debts) and Client Relationships.
Managed the Trade Services re-engineering project.
Responsibilities included evaluation and approval of credit proposals, making sales to customers and promote liability products to achieve designated sales targets. Managing an account portfolio of the top customers with substantial liability base. Conducting regular client visits for relationship building and to cross sell Cash Management/Trade/FX and other yield enhancement products. Focused on providing quality banking experience and service to customers.
Conducted product training sessions for the sales and marketing officers and also assisted in preparing product development updates for internal and external clients.
Mashreqbank, Dubai 1996 - 1998
Business Operations Manager
Foreign Trade Center
Responsibilities included issuance and review of documentary letters of credit and standby letters of credit (guarantees), posting of accounting entries including debiting the customers accounts for the LC charges, reconciliation of different heads of accounts, forward booking foreign exchange for imports, transfer of funds, scrutiny & lodgment of letter of credit and documentary collection documents, settlement of sight/usance and collection bills of entire UAE branches.
Managed customer service of the Foreign Trade Center including handling of verbal and written customer inquiries.
Assisted the banks trade finance sales team in increasing trade sales by bringing in new import/export customers.
Standard Chartered Bank 1992 - 1996
Manager- Foreign Trade & Cash Management
Managed the entire operation of Foreign Trade including Imports, Exports, Guarantees, Funds Transfer & the operation of Foreign exchange including handling of foreign and local currency Accounts.
Responsibilities included sale of trade finance products, cash management including wire stop payment, collection services, disbursements, information reporting, sweep and investment services, letters of credit review and opening letters of credit including specialized credits, key/priority customer credits and credits exceeding $10 million and above, issuance of guarantees, counter-guarantees, bid bonds and performance bonds.
Education
MBA
Seminars/Courses/Training
Attended various seminars/workshops on Credit, Quality Advantage, Trade Finance, and Performance Assessment & Development Plan, Compliance Training (yearly event) for handling Anti-Boycott, Suspicious Activity, Reputational Risk, OFAC and CAAML.
Conducted workshops on Trade Finance.
Member of Special Task Force for the formulation of Human Resource policies of Union Bank Limited.
Audit Trainee, A.F. Ferguson & Co. Chartered Accountants.
Lead Member of the Habib Bank Team which re-engineered Trade Services of the Bank.
Trainee Marketing Department, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI-Brit
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Skills: |
Highly experienced in International Trade Operations.
Multi-lingual
Highly skilled in managing multi-national workforce.
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Education: |
B.Com/ MBA
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Endorsements
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arif has received 0 endorsements.
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arif has endorsed 0 Members.
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