Commerzbank has appointed Leon Potgieter as director, deal originator export finance, based in Johannesburg.

His mandate covers most of the Sub-Saharan Africa region “with a view to build and enhance relationships with importers and help strengthen the efforts of the bank’s global structured export and trade finance business segment”, says a statement issued to GTR.

Potgieter joins the bank from Tenova Mining and Minerals in South Africa. He has previously held positions at Cresco Project Finance and Bateman Projects and spent 19 years with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, where he also managed the corporation’s money market, debt funding, currency hedging programme and short-term trade finance activities.

His fields of activity are focused on export and project finance origination and structuring, largely in minerals and mining as well as other key industry sectors such as agriculture, power, telecoms and tourism.

He reports to Cathrin Karpinski, export finance/head of international markets at the Commerzbank head office.