World Bank appoints Nigerian woman Vice President
A Nigerian woman has been appointed Vice President at the World Bank.
The Bank announced the appointment of Arunma Oteh as Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank in a press statement issued Thursday July 203, 2015.
Ms. Oteh had served as the Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, she resigned from the position in January 2015.
According to the Bank, as Vice President and Treasurer, Arunma will manage and lead a large and diverse team responsible for managing more than $150 billion in assets.
The Bank indicated that her top priorities will be to: (i) maintain the World Bank’s global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower, investor and risk manager; (ii) manage an extensive client advisory, transaction and asset management business for the Bank; (iii) engage, in her capacity as one of the World Bank’s key representatives, with outside stakeholders including global private sector financial institutions, the financial media and the sovereign debt and reserve managers in client countries, as well as ratings agencies; and (iv) collaborate extensively with the Finance Partners throughout the World Bank Group, including with IFC and MIGA, expanding shared approaches, in particular around innovative financing for development and for key new projects.
Prior to joining the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria, Arunma was Group Vice President, Corporate Services, at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). In this role she oversaw a number of departments, including human resources, information and communications technology, and institutional procurement. From 2001 to 2006 she held the role of AfDB Group Treasurer, where she led AfDB’s fundraising and capital market activities across the world. Earlier roles at the AfDB, which she joined in 1992, included trading room management, investment portfolio coverage, and public sector lending. She also held other positions in capital markets and lending during the course of her career at the AfDB. Arunma began her career in 1985 at Centre Point, where she executed debt and equity offerings in the Nigerian capital markets.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria and MBA from Harvard University.
Her appointment is effective September 28, 2015.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi