Law firm Mayer Brown has hired Janelene Chen as a partner in its Singapore office, as it seeks to grow its global trade and structured finance business in Asia. 

Chen joins after 13 years at Norton Rose Fulbright, where she was also a partner in Singapore, working with financial institutions and corporate borrowers. She previously spent nearly four years as banking and finance associate at WongPartnership. 

She is tasked with advising clients on trade finance, including receivables, payables and commodity finance transactions, as well as other structured financing such as asset-based lending. 

Alex Dell, co-head of Mayer Brown’s global banking and finance practice and co-chair of its global trade finance group, says: “The multi-trillion-dollar global trade finance market is complex and risky to navigate for lenders and borrowers alike. 

“Having Janelene on the ground in Singapore, an increasingly important financial and trading hub, advising on structured finance and risk management solutions to multi-jurisdictional clients significantly deepens our leading global finance platform.” 

Chen says she aims to help “expand the global trade finance business in Asia”, citing Indonesia and Vietnam as markets of focus. 

“Singapore is also becoming increasingly important to Hong Kong and China, with many large Chinese companies setting up regional headquarters in Singapore as the base for their non-PRC operations,” she adds.