Citi has appointed Ahmet Bekçe to head its global export agency finance (EAF) origination business, based in New York. It is a newly-created role, reporting to the bank’s global head of trade, John Ahearn.

EAF covers all official agency financings, including export credit agencies, multilateral and bilateral sovereign agencies. It arranges and participates globally in structured financings that manage risk through credit and political risk support from sovereign agencies and insurers.

Bekçe brings over 28 years of experience and knowledge to this role. Since joining Citi in 1990, he has held a range of positions across the bank, most recently as head of corporate banking for Middle East and North Africa, based in Dubai, since 2010.

He previously served as head of debt markets for Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (Ceemea) in capital markets origination in London. Before that, he worked as the head of the Islamic finance unit in London and as a coverage transactor for India, Pakistan and Turkey in Ceemea corporate finance. He started his banking career as a corporate banking relationship manager at Citibank Istanbul.