European ABF Forum

Akim Kibalnik is an experienced banker with a background in structured and commodity finance. In October 2024, Akim was appointed Head of Structured Trade Finance Solutions for EMEA at BBVA London, where he leads the development and delivery of innovative financing solutions across the region, with a particular focus on commodities and complex cross-border structures. Prior to BBVA, Akim held various roles at Citi, most recently serving as Natural Resources Sales Lead for the UK and Europe.

Akim is a member of the Executive Committee and leads the Mentorship Programme at the London Trade Roundtable, a non-profit organisation that provides networking and mentoring opportunities for trade finance professionals. He holds a Master of Science in Strategy and Innovation from Vienna University of Economics & Business and is currently pursuing the CFA designation

Alice He is a Senior Investment Director in the Private Markets Group at USS Investment Management. She joined USS in 2009, and currently responsible for sourcing, evaluation and execution of investments in Private Credit and Alternative Income. She is an experienced investment professional and funds allocator. Prior to USS, She worked as an investment analyst in fund of hedge funds. Alice received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science.

Doug is a partner at TwentyFour and Co-Head of ABS.

Doug is a member of the ABS portfolio management team and sits on the Asset Allocation Committee.

A CFA® Charterholder, Doug began his career at Nationwide Building Society and also worked at S&P Global Ratings and Lloyds before joining TwentyFour.

Katherine serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Juice, a forward-thinking financial services company dedicated to providing growth capital for digital-first businesses. Katherine's journey in the financial sector spans over 20 years, marked by roles in banking and risk management at institutions including Commerzbank AG, HSBC, and Deutsche Bank.  Moving from banking to the startup world, Katherine joined Juice in 2019 as the Chief Financial Officer and has played a pivotal role in the company's growth. Her expertise in finance and risk management has been a key driver in Juice's evolution, leading to her transition to the position of Chief Executive Officer. Under Katherine's leadership, Juice was recognised as the 28th fastest growing tech company in the UK in the 2024 Deloitte Fast 50 awards and 4th in Women in Leadership.  

Matthew Jones is a Principal in GoldenTree Asset Management’s Structured Credit team, focussing on originating, analysing, structuring and investing in asset backed and structured investments for the firm’s clients.

Michael is an investor/structurer with more than 20 years securitisation experience. Most recently he has built out the British Business Bank’s capital relief, private securitisation and speciality finance capabilities. In doing so he has supported more than £5bn lending to the UK’s SMEs using innovative guarantee techniques to both increase lenders’ capacity and/or improve their costs of financing.

Prior to this Michael has worked in both the private and public sector at institutions including EIF and S&P working on asset classes ranging from mortgages to the more esoteric and across multiple jurisdictions. 

Omar el Glaoui is Managing Director and Co-Head of the EMEA Real Estate Finance business at Citigroup, focusing on origination, structuring and distribution of senior and mezzanine debt

Over an 18 year career in commercial property finance, Omar has expertise in loan underwriting, distressed acquisitions, mezzanine / equity investments, CMBS bond trading and underwriting & risk management across Europe and all traditional and operating asset classes.

He joined Citi in 2014, and prior to that was with J.P. Morgan in London where he started his career in 2005.

Shailen is responsible for investment strategy, product innovation and origination.

Prior to joining NLC, Shailen headed the corporate advisory group at Macfarlanes and was an engagement partner at EY. These roles included the setup of new teams and covered transaction structuring, valuation and investment governance, ESG, technical accounting and regulatory capital advisory across asset management and private markets.

Shailen graduated in Economics from UCL and is an ICAEW qualified Chartered Accountant and Business Finance Professional.

Tim joined the business in 2012 and has more than 25 years of relevant experience. Tim is the Head of the Global Infrastructure Debt business and the portfolio manager of a number of the firm’s debt mandates. He is the Chair of the Debt Investment Committee and a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee.

Prior to joining Vantage, Tim worked in senior banking roles at Westpac in Sydney and London. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business from the University of Otago and a Master of Business Administration from the London Business School.

Iona advises on a broad range of structured finance transactions across a variety of asset classes, including commercial real estate, whole business, receivables and residential mortgage loans in the UK and across Europe.

She regularly acts for financial institutions, funds, private equity firms and corporates. In particular, Iona specialises in the origination and work out of commercial real estate transactions, including CMBS, whole business securitisations and loan on loan transactions. She is also highly experienced in advising on auto finance, RMBS, portfolio acquisition transactions and forward flow arrangements.

Anirban Ghosh (London) joined KKR in 2016 and is a Managing Director in the Credit team, focused on the firm’s Asset Based Finance business across Europe. Mr. Ghosh has notably been involved in the transactions of Hipoges, Sistemia, Kilter Finance, Oodle, Pepper, Trinity Debt Capital (TDC), and the purchase of various NPL and PL portfolios from European banks. Prior to KKR, he was with Blackstone as part of the tactical opportunities fund focusing on specialty finance and NPL portfolio acquisitions. Mr. Ghosh started his career in finance in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs in London, and prior to that was a software engineer. Mr. Ghosh holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, MBA Exchange from Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and a Bachelors in Computer Science from National Institute of Technology. 

Dean Atkins joined 400CM in 2015, and is currently Managing Director, Head of 400 Capital Management Europe.  He serves as a member of the Operating & Investment Committee.  Dean has thirty years of experience across both European and U.S. securitized asset and structured product markets, on both the buy-side and the sell-side.  Prior to 400 Capital he was Partner and CIO at Kinson Capital, before which he held a number of senior positions at ABN Amro including Head of Structured Finance Trading and Head of European ABS Trading and Syndicate.  Dean began his career on the U.S. RMBS desk at Abbey National, co-managing a $15 billion portfolio.  Dean is Founding Chairman of the Catalyst Club, a genetic cancer research campaign, and has a M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University.