Factoring network and association FCI is expanding its activities globally with the appointment of two new regional chapter directors, Betül Kurtulus and Lin Hui.

Kurtulus is joining as director of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Southeast Europe (SEE) and the Middle East, and will be based in Istanbul, Turkey. Lin is joining as director of Northeast Asia, covering China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Mongolia, and will be based in Shanghai, China.

These new appointments will complement the two existing chapter directors that cover the Americas and South and Southeast Asia.

Kurtulus has 26 years’ experience in the factoring industry. Prior to joining FCI, she was general manager and member of the board of Strateji Faktoring in Turkey. She also served for the past five years as member of the FCI SCF committee and more recently, the FCI marketing committee.

Speaking to GTR about her appointment, Kurtulus says: “My aim is to awaken the growth of the CEE-SEE and ME region through factoring. Growth dynamics remain strong in many of the region’s countries, and factoring is a direct channel for SMEs to access capital.”

Northeast Asia director Lin brings two decades of experience in the Chinese factoring and trade finance market to FCI, and his previous experience includes the launch of two bank factoring divisions with Bank of Communication and China Minsheng Bank, and one commercial factoring enterprise located in mainland China and Hong Kong.

“My key objective is to help FCI to take a leading role in building a healthy, vibrant environment for factoring and receivables finance services in the region, and to support the growth of FCI’s network as well as the business of our members,” he says, adding that as China transforms its economy into a consumption-driven growth model, he expects to see more demand from China’s import and domestic supply chain.