Finastra’s head of trade and supply chain finance David Hennah has left the company and will join Intellect on January 16, 2019.

He will take up the role of senior vice-president and head of trade and supply chain finance. Based in London, the role sits within Intellect’s transaction banking business, iGTB.

Intellect has recruited Hennah in a bid to expand its trade business. He will be responsible for the product roadmap and strategy.

Speaking to GTR about his move, Hennah says: “The key difference between Finastra and Intellect is that Intellect is a young and more modern company, it has a modern architecture, and therefore has the ability to respond to market needs. At Finastra, the emphasis is more on technical roadmap and modernising the architecture. Intellect is in a position to deliver that, and therefore I’ll be looking more at the strategic opportunities to develop the functional side of the roadmap, to address market needs that are rapidly changing as a result of digitalisation.”

Hennah has decades of experience in transaction banking and trade finance. He held his most recent role at Finastra since 2013, following almost eight years at Swift as senior product manager. He previously worked at Finastra (then Misys) from 2001 to 2005 and has also held positions at Fujitsu Services and Barclays.

Hennah is most well-known for his work on bringing the ICC Banking Commission bank payment obligation (BPO) to market as an established business practice. He is currently involved in an ICC working group for drafting a new ruleset for digital trade finance. Since 2016, he has co-chaired the World Trade Board, a Finastra-led initiative, a role from which he has now resigned. He will however continue as a member of the board.

“My ambition will be to help Intellect grow its business and footprint globally, and to help it compete head-to-head with the established players in the market, the Finastras of this world,” Hennah says.