Christophe Kloeti has joined the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) as head of trade finance in France.

Kloeti makes the move from Commerzbank Paris, where he was responsible for trade finance activities for the last five years. He has also held positions at Coface and Société Générale.

A spokesperson for NBAD tells GTR that its Paris trade team is still relatively small, but is growing in line with the bank’s strategy.

NBAD announced back in October last year that it intends to grow its network across what it calls the “West-East corridor” and to build a number of international bank franchises. As part of this plan, the bank is strengthening its hubs in Abu Dhabi, Washington, Hong Kong, London and Paris, where it already has operations, and is seeking licences in Mumbai, Singapore and Lagos.

NBAD Paris serves customers in France and North Africa. “North Africa, France, and the Gulf share a long and deep commercial relationship which is poised to increase. NBAD is committed to facilitate and be a major enabler of commercial and trade,” says Fadi Halout, CEO of NBAD France.