Lloyds TSB’s trade finance team has expanded further with staff changes in London, New York and Rotterdam. Brazilian national Neusa Bulcao will head up the New York office for the bank and will recruit a small team to build up a regional presence for the Americas. An internal appointment from within Lloyds TSB, she will be overseeing both primary and distribution business.

Working closely with Bulcao will be Shalini Khemka, who joins as a director in London from LTP Trade. Khemka’s role is as part of the expanding business management unit for the bank. She will be concentrating on country risk issues and strategy and on distribution lines.

Jeff Baker joins the trade finance team from Lloyds TSB’s structured finance unit as a business manager and product expert for trade finance products as the bank rolls out various offerings. One such service is the working capital trade finance facility, launching on February 6. This aims to help with the acceleration of cashflow and risk management.

Barry George also joins the business management unit, from Citibank, to concentrate on the trade services side of the market. The aim is to “reorganise what we do and give an entre into web-based trade services,” says Peter Sargent, Lloyds TSB’s global head of trade.

Sargent adds: “The business management unit is a quite deliberate attempt to bring a centre of product excellence to clients.”

An international cash management specialist will be recruited soon, says Sargent.

The bank is focusing on opening and redefining the roles of regional offices such as Dubai, New York and Rotterdam into regional centres. Wim Kok has been appointed from within the bank as a trade liaison manager in Rotterdam for instance – as a bridge between the trade finance and local relationship management teams.

Lloyds TSB recently sold its Brazilian business to HSBC. Sargent comments that the drive in New York for Americas business is due more to an expansion owing to the bank’s trade strategy than a knee-jerk reaction to the sale of the Brazilian assets. “The bank is acknowledging that international trade finance is one of the international focuses in the future,” he adds. “And that means global product offerings out of regional centres.”