Trade finance blockchain platform komgo has appointed Kris Van Broekhoven as its new chief financial officer (CFO).

Having served on the company’s board since September 2018, he starts in the newly created full-time position at komgo as of today.

Van Broekhoven will continue to be based in London and leaves his post at Citi, where he had served as global head of treasury and trade solutions (TTS) commodity trade finance since 2012.

Prior to this he served in a couple of different roles during a decade-long stint at Deutsche Bank.

In his most recent position there, he worked as Emea head of structured commodity trade finance.

Van Broekhoven previously held various roles in commercial banking and trade finance at KBC Bank, both in Belgium and London.

Speaking about his move on LinkedIn, Van Broekhoven says: “I’m a strong believer in the opportunity for the industry to go digital.”

He adds: “Covid-19 has exposed weaknesses in the way the world handles trade. The renewed focus on business continuity planning has catapulted digitalisation to the top of many to-do lists, while recent fraud cases have highlighted the need to restore trust.”

A spokesperson for komgo tells GTR that Van Broekhoven will focus on finance, network and strategy and will work closely with CEO Souleima Baddi and the senior leadership team.

komgo was founded as an independent venture in August 2018 and is aiming to digitise and streamline commodity trade finance processes.

The platform has 15 shareholders made up of a mix of corporate and financial players, which includes Van Broekhoven’s former employer, Citi.

ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Gunvor, ING, Koch Supply & Trading, Macquarie, Mercuria, MUFG Bank, Natixis, Rabobank, Shell, SGS and Société Générale are the other backers.

komgo initially released a letter of credit (LC) product and a KYC module when it launched the platform commercially in late 2018.

In June 2019, komgo released two more products to facilitate standby letters of credit (SBLCs) and receivables discounting, and to date more than 20,000 LCs and SBLCs have been issued on the platform.