Patrick Crawford, a City banker with a long track record in export and project finance, has become the Export Credits Guarantee Department’s (ECGD) new chief executive.

Crawford comes to ECGD having served since 2002 at Standard Bank London as managing director, Emerging Africa Advisers. Emerging Africa Advisers is the principal adviser to the fund manager of the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, Standard Infrastructure Fund Managers (Africa) Limited, established by Standard Bank Group of South Africa, the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) and Emerging Markets Partnership of the US.

He previously worked in a range of senior roles with Deutsche Bank which he joined in 1976. There, he was latterly global head of project and export finance in New York and then global head of project finance in New York and London. During 1983-85, he was seconded to the Department of Trade and Industry as an adviser on project and export finance.

Crawford succeeds Vivian Brown, who was ECGD’s chief executive since 1997. His appointment will be for five years. The appointment follows an open competition, overseen by the Civil Service Commission.

Crawford’s appointment follows that of Graham Pimlott to the new post of ECGD’s part-time, non-executive chair earlier this year. Together, they will lead the department’s top management team.