Specialist insurance broker Howden Group has made an appointment within its global credit solutions team, hiring Richard Waite as an executive director for client and product development.

Waite starts with immediate effect and reports to Neil Galletti, managing director of global credit solutions, in the London-based position.

Waite joins after a five-year stint at Bank ABC, where he had been serving in his most recent post as European head of financial institutions.

He joined the bank in 2016 after nearly five years as director for export credit and global specialised finance at HSBC in London.

Prior to this, he worked in a number of different forfaiting and loan trading-focused roles at two other banks, OCBC Bank and WestLB.

Oliver Bowes, an executive director at Howden, tells GTR: “Richard brings an extensive background in trade finance to the role. As a well-known figure in the London syndication distribution market for trade finance assets, he’ll bring unparalleled knowledge and experience to the team.”

Formerly known as Hyperion Insurance Group, prior to a rebrand in November, Howden announced in March that it had acquired Swiss political risk and credit insurance broker, International Risks Insurance Advisers (Iria).

Mark Schulz was appointed as an executive director at Iria in June, tasked with growing its single-risk political risk and credit business in German-speaking Switzerland.