Derek is an international banker with over 35 years experience and he is a Fellow of the Chartered Banking Institute. He has held several senior management appointments in the City of London including, from 1993 to 1997, as general manager of Moscow Narodny Bank in London and after this, established its subsidiary in Moscow. Since 1997 Derek has been working exclusively in emerging markets, predominantly in CIS countries.

In January 2009 Derek successfully completed a project for Hamkorbank, Uzbekistan, on behalf of IFC/World Bank. The project parameters were focused upon improving the capability and skills relating to organisational structure, corporate governance, strategy and business plan, risk management, lending, improved systems, as well as the management of liquidity. Also, throughout 2008, he supported Rodovidbank, Ukraine on behalf of GFA/EBRD and proposed improvements in corporate business strategy and HR management development.

Until its successful completion in mid 2007, Derek was Team Leader of an institutional building project in the Export Development Bank of Egypt, with risk management, organisational structuring and corporate lending as his speciality. He also re-focused the Compliance function within the Bank, and defined its role in AML event-analysis and reporting.

In 2006, Derek assisted Kreditprombank to enter the Ukraine retail mortgage market, by way of creation of a Mortgage Centre and the design of all policies, procedures, products and risk management techniques relevant to mortgage lending business. Loan origination, product types, risk scoring and pricing were based upon a UK model, unique in Ukraine, all of which led to Kreditprombank achieving its desired market share position at a much earlier date than originally planned.