The African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), a pan-African provider of credit and political risk insurance, has appointed Deepak Dave as chief risk officer.

Dave joins ATI’s four-person management team in a newly created position. The Nairobi-headquartered agency says his appointment is part of its “medium-term strategy to strengthen its overall risk management function”.

ATI adds that the new role is also expected to boost value-added services aimed at African governments, ultimately focusing on increasing inward investment flows and addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk factors.

Dave was previously a director at Riverside Capital Advisory, a company he founded in 2005. In his second spell at the company between 2015 and 2019 he provided advisory services to Adventis Limited, an investment management company focusing on the African continent, and London-based investment bank Lion’s Head Global Partners.

He was also senior vice-president for risk management, mining and metals, at GE Capital Finance between 2011 and 2015.

Dave says managing ATI’s risks “within well-defined parameters and growing our service and product offerings will mean the team protects the interests of associates, shareholders and clients”.

He tells GTR: “ATI has a developmental mandate across its member countries, and we will sharpen our focus on deeper analysis of factors contributing to the impact – across all of ESG – that our transaction support has.”

John Lentaigne, appointed as acting CEO in June last year, adds: “ATI’s rapid growth in recent years as well as its heightened business profile requires a strengthened risk management function.”

Chubb made a US$10mn equity investment in ATI in December last year, making it the first global property and casualty insurer to invest in the agency. ATI counts 16 African nations and 10 institutional members as shareholders, claiming to support trade and investment worth 1 to 2% of GDP in countries where it operates.