BPL Global hires seasoned banking professionals to boost offering

Credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) broker BPL Global has expanded its portfolio solutions offering with the hiring of seasoned banking professionals with experience in securitisation and structured finance solutions at NatWest, Santander, RBS, Barclays, KPMG and Deutsche Bank.

Riz Sheikh (pictured up)has joined BPL Global and will lend his expertise to the development of BPL Global’s Significant Risk Transfer (SRT) offering, to complement its existing portfolio solutions capabilities for banking and financial institution clients.

Sheikh has more than 20 years of experience in the sector and was previously at NatWest as director of capital management and portfolio risk mitigation, overseeing the SRT and credit risk insurance platforms for the bank’s commercial division. He previously held origination, structuring and distribution-related roles at Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, KPMG and Deutsche Bank.

Sheikh will report to Charlie Radcliffe, deputy CEO and will work alongside Gregory King-Underwood in an expanded portfolio solutions team.

Additionally, BPL Global has appointed Steve Gandy (pictured bottom) on a consultancy basis. Formerly Santander’s head of private debt mobilisation at the corporate and investment banking arm, Gandy is an industry veteran who brings almost three decades of experience in securitisations and other structured finance solutions.

“With the insurance market set to become more active in capital relief trades, we knew it was essential to boost our SRT capabilities and ensure we are approaching these types of transactions with the right expertise and knowledge,” said BPL Global Group CEO Sian Aspinall.

Charlie Radcliffe, deputy CEO, added: “As a broker, our role is to connect originating banks with insurance partners and facilitate the development of this market. By expanding our capabilities in this space, we will give underwriters even greater confidence in participating in these transactions. These new appointments allow us to build long-term partnerships while effectively representing the needs of our banking and institutional clients. I look forward to working with Riz and Steve to expand our offering and build our portfolio in line with our growth strategy.”

Sheikh commented: “I am excited to be joining BPL Global - a world-leading specialist broker - and to bring my experience in securitisation and structured finance to help leverage the existing platform into growing this part of the business. I look forward to expanding on BPL Global’s offering here to help our insurer and reinsurer partners develop SRT product expertise and continue to deliver best-in-class solutions for our policyholders.”