Main purpose

Trafigura is seeking an expert Trade Finance Officer to join our team in Geneva. Candidate needs to feel comfortable in a fast-paced environment, utilising experience and skills to handle large trading volumes and high-pressure deadlines.
The TF Officer will be in contact with various internal and external stakeholders, namely our banking partners and commercial traders, and will be responsible for establishing good working relationships with them to obtain optimal, cost effective, and innovative financing solutions for Trafigura on an ongoing basis.

Key responsibilities

• Good understanding of LBMA/COMEX standards, Vaulting process, international bullion markets, and refining/tolling processes

• Handling of Unallocate/allocated accounts, lease agreements/financing, precious repos

• Weekly monitoring and mark to market of any stock positions

• Ensuring timely processing of payments together with running cash positions with the banks

• Risk covering sales where necessary with banks and/or insurance

• Review and Issuance of L/Cs or Bank Guarantees for the group purchases of commodities

• Analysing financing requirements and negotiating with banks in order to place transactions under Borrowing bases, bilateral facilities or Repurchase agreements.

• Monitoring of utilisation and decision making for financing optimization

• Negotiation and Documentation of such financing facilities instruments

• Preparation and dispatch of invoices and original documents for payment under documentary letters of credit received from buyers.

• Finding and structuring the most appropriate and cost-effective banking solutions for physical trading activities

• Controlling and monitoring risks related to the daily purchases and sales of Commodities

• Handling new trades and flows in close coordination with commercial and operations departments

• Acquiring bank lines and/or establishes new banking relationships (entities, products) as and where necessary.

• Participating in the training of junior team members

• Assessing physical transactions for risk and compatibility for relevant financing facility

• Reporting on credit/performance exposure and risk related to finance management

• Handling all aspects of LCs and collections

• Reviewing and approving spot and term contracts and tenders for finance associated risks

Required qualifications

• Minimum 5 years within a Trading Company / Financial institution having gained a good understanding of the principals surrounding Trade Finance instruments and their pitfalls.

• Fluent English

• Experience in Precious metals market is preferred with expertise in handling financing requirement related to precious metals

• Capable of handling complicated transactions and getting banks comfortable outside of standard procedures:

  • e.g.how to finance it, how to engage with banks, interaction with operations, establish banking facilities

• Understanding of various risk involved in day-to-day operations and good understanding of INCOTERMs

Preferred qualifications

• Additional language knowledge

Attributes for success

• Attention for detail but with capacity to summarize information and understand “global picture”

• Ability to communicate in a clear and concise manner both externally and internally including reporting to finance senior management from time to time.

• Good logical and analytical skills

• The Officer needs to be proactive, establish positive relationships with banks, match each deal with the best bank’s profile, negotiate rates, have cost awareness

• Problem solving and innovator: the Officer challenges the trader’s financing structure proposals by suggesting improvements

• Experience and level of confidence: reactive and stays calm under pressure

• Establishing a good communication network to keep informed about various stages of trade flow during the life cycle of a trade

Working Conditions

• Fast paced: Intraday execution with hard deadlines

• High-pressure: Same-day contract, payment, and delivery cycles

• Multi-channel: Simultaneous teams groups, emails, phone calls

• High value: Low volume but high value requires precision and fraud awareness

• Cross-functional: Constant interaction with various departments involved in the trading process

Key Relationships

• Traders

• Operations

• Treasury

• Compliance

• Banks

• Counterparties

• Insurance

• Credit

• Deals Desk

• Derivative Operations

• Other finance departments

Department overview

The Trade Finance team is a global team of Officers responsible for structuring and executing the financing solutions that underpin Trafigura's physical commodity trading activities across Oil, Energy, and Metals.

From negotiating and documenting complex banking facilities and letters of credit, to managing intraday payment cycles and optimizing financing costs across the trade lifecycle, Trade Finance sits at the intersection of commercial execution and financial risk management.

Reporting Structure

Reporting directly to the Head of Trade Finance for Metals, Minerals & Bulk

Equal opportunity employer

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse workforce! We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or handicap, disability, or any other legally protected status.