Non-bank trade finance provider Stenn International has appointed Erik Timmermans as its global partnerships director of financial institutions, a newly created position.

Timmermans will be based at Stenn’s London headquarters, and is tasked with developing its cross-border business by boosting activities undertaken in partnership with financial institutions. The company specialises in the provision of cross-border trade finance solutions.

Founder and executive chairman Greg Karpovsky says Timmermans’ appointment is expected to “open up new routes to market in developing strategic partnerships with banks, non-bank financial institutions and fintechs all over the globe”.

Timmermans is also managing director of BZIX Consulting & Management, which provides advice on factoring, receivables and supply chain finance. He was previously secretary general of International Factors Group and was chairman of the EU Federation for Factoring between 2016 and 2018.

He was also founder of World of Open Account, a peer-to-peer online community launched in December 2018 that brings together experts from the receivables finance industry.

Timmermans says he believes Stenn is “redefining the cross-border finance industry with its mission of providing next-level supply chain finance solutions to underserved markets”.

His appointment follows the hire of Chris Rigby as Stenn’s global head of finance and capital in June, another newly created role at the company’s London office. It also operates out of the US, Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

The company announced in December it had secured a “significant upsizing” to its funding through asset manager M&G Investments, meaning it has invested more than US$1bn in supporting clients’ trade activities.