Société Générale has established a structured trade finance platform in Dubai and appointed three seasoned bankers to lead it.

Charles Emmanuel de Beauregard, director of structured finance, responsible for export, infrastructure and asset-based finance, will relocate from Paris, where he focused on originating export finance transactions in the Middle East.

Cem Orekli has been appointed director of natural resources. He rejoins the bank after working in the natural resources departments of ING and UniCredit, and has 14 years of experience in energy finance.

Karim El Zein has been named vice-president, debt capital markets (DCM). He joins from Credit Suisse in London, where he originated and executed DCM transactions for corporates, financial institutions and sovereigns in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa.

“The expectation for lower oil prices in the medium term is creating a significant need for external funding, whether from banks or from capital markets,” says Richad Soundardjee, Société Générale’s Middle East CEO.

“Société Générale is a global structured finance house that has the capacity to meet those needs in the Middle East. With this new platform, we are even more relevant as our local pool of specialists can originate and execute transactions on the ground in close and regular contact with our clients, working hand in hand with our coverage bankers and our expert teams in London and Paris.”

The new platform forms part of the bank’s growth strategy in the region, which includes the allocation of more capital and specialised teams in the next five years.