Muriel Schwab has 20 years’ experience in the commodities industry, and serves as CFO, at Gunvor. She first joined Gunvor in 2007. Prior to her current position, she was the Regional Head of Trade and Commodity Finance at Rabobank in New York. She has also previously held positions with Taurus Petroleum, Credit Suisse and ING in Geneva. Ms. Schwab holds a Master of Advanced Management from Yale School of Management, a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.
Why did you choose the trading industry?
I have always been interested in working in a fast-paced environment with strong international exposure, and that first led me to finance and then to the commodities sector. What keeps me in trading is the appeal of working in an industry that is always evolving, always responding to market changes very quickly. How companies in the sector are striving to respond to the Energy Transition is a good example of that.
Tell us about your career path following graduation from university right up until your current CFO position.
There doesn’t seem to be any single path for anyone into commodities trading. My own has been: education, finance and trading.
I worked for banks, Credit Suisse and ING after college. From there, I took on an in-house finance role at Taurus Petroleum in Geneva. Then I joined Gunvor for the first time. The company offered the chance to work in Singapore, which I did for 6 years while attending INSEAD. I left Gunvor’s CFO Asia-Pacific to relocate to the US and attend a Master of Advance Management at Yale. I moved back into commodity finance at Rabobank in New York, and Gunvor called again.
There doesn’t seem to be any single path for anyone into commodities trading.
You mention opportunities, but you must have faced challenges as well. What were they?
A good job is comprised of interesting challenges, and the commodities sector has its fair share. In finance, especially, we’re constantly striving to find creative solutions to reduce costs and improve profitability–critical for an industry that has razor-thin margins. We can look into the increasing use of blockchain and digitalisation as a good example of that.
Two years ago, when I joined Gunvor, the company had commenced an overhaul, which in many ways remains ongoing. For example, we’re meeting compliance risk head-on through investments in our control processes, promoting transparency, and taking clear-cut steps, like ceasing the use of “agents”. This comes alongside our efforts to strengthen corporate governance and broaden leadership. The company today isn’t the company of yesterday, and tomorrow we will continue to evolve. To be able to contribute to these changes has been important for my role.
The commodities sector can respond rapidly to change, but it is also known to be very conservative, isn’t it?
Historically, yes, in terms of culture. But this is starting to evolve as everyone is looking for an edge, and that clearly comes from diversity and inclusivity. Many studies have demonstrated that companies with a more diverse decision-making base achieve higher performance. Overall, though, I see that society is changing in a positive way. There is still more work to do.
How is the industry now promoting greater diversity?
We have to be more creative about recruiting people, developing and retaining a new diverse generation of leaders. The trading of today and tomorrow is more dependent on analytic skills, including such things as machine learning and AI. Ten years ago, it mattered if you could speak English and Chinese. Today, the languages that matter are Python, C-Sharp, and SQL. Concurrently, we have to promote diversity at Board level to set the tone from the top.
