MUFG Bank Europe (MBE) has launched a commodity finance desk in Amsterdam and subsequently appointed Natalia Kasyanova as Head of Commodity Finance MBE, effective July 1*.

Natalia will report to Atakan Akkaya, Head of Commodity Finance for EMEA in London, and will be responsible for building MUFG's commodity finance team and its client offering in Europe.

Natalia is returning to MUFG after two years with Komgo, a Swiss-headquartered software development and technology services company for the trade finance industry. Prior to joining MUFG in London as Vice President Commodity Finance in 2018, she was at ABN Amro in Amsterdam for five years as a Senior Associate Agri Commodities.

MUFG has been progressively expanding its commodity finance business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for the past ten years across specialized desks covering energy, metals and agriculture. Leveraging its extensive global network, MUFG offers comprehensive solutions to finance international commodity trade flows, providing clients with a range of traditional and bespoke commodity-finance solutions.

Harm Bots, President and Chief Executive Officer for MBE, commented:

"We want to expand our capabilities to help our clients navigate the challenges of today's world and economy. The dedicated commodity finance desk in Amsterdam will enable us to support European clients better. Natalia is a very promising leader, with near 10 years of experience in commodity finance. She is well-qualified and well-regarded in the industry and we are very much looking forward to working with her again."

Philip Roberts, Head of Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB) in EMEA and Deputy Regional Executive for the region, added:

"We are delighted to appoint Natalie into this newly created key role within MBE. It reaffirms our commitment to our European corporate client franchise and we have confidence that Natalie will grow the commodity finance desk into a big pillar for the Amsterdam office."

MUFG has recently made a number of senior appointments within MUFG Bank Europe: Genoveva Ramón-Borja as Head of Corporate Coverage in Global Corporate & Investment Banking for MBE, Dragi Dimitrijevic as Chief Risk Officer and a member of the Management Board of MBE and Tania Smith as Head of Legal and Governance covering both MBE and MUS (EU), the securities businesses in Europe. Harm Bots joined MUFG in 2021 and was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer MUFG Bank Europe in April 2022.

*Subject to required regulatory approval