Europe Arab Bank plc (EAB) has hired Howard Gooder as a senior project finance director. His focus is on financing major infrastructure and capital goods projects in the energy sector in the Mena region and Europe; working with European-based EAB clients in close liaison with the Arab Bank Group where appropriate.

Gooder was previously at WestLB, where he was an executive director, based in London. He reports to Jonathan King, head of project and structured finance, who also worked at WestLB before leaving to join EAB earlier this year.

In a career spanning more than 25 years Gooder has created successful financial solutions for major energy, natural resource and infrastructure projects in 30 countries. During the last 15 years he concentrated on the energy sector at WestLB London as an executive director of the global specialised finance group, where he led deal teams in the negotiation, structuring and credit assessment of financings for oil and gas developments, LNG plant and ship construction, refinery and petrochemical plant construction, cross border pipeline developments and merchant and contracted power generation plants.