Arunma Oteh, DG of Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission Appointed World Bank Treasurer

by Benson Agoha | Celebrity Appointment

“Arunma Oteh has deep knowledge of capital markets and tremendous experience as the former Treasurer of one of our partner development banks. We are very fortunate to be able to recruit an individual of Arunma’s obvious caliber.” - World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

With the above words, Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank announced the appointment of the Nigerian National and Director General of Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission as Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank.

Ms Arunma Oteh who is of Nigerian/British nationality, was largely seen as the "Iron Lady" of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission.

A graduate of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, she earned a First Class Honors degree in Computer Science before going to the Harvard Business School where she obtained a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

Justifying her appointment, the World Bank said she led the transformation of Nigeria's capital markets industry into a major global presence and described her as "a member of the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Chairperson of the Africa Middle East Regional Committee of IOSCO."

World Bank announcement said that prior to joining the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria, Ms. Oteh was Group Vice President, Corporate Services, at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). A role in which 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." the announcement said.

In this new role at the World Bank, she will manage and lead a large and diverse team responsible for managing more than $150 billion (£97 billion) in assets, World Bank said.

World bank said she will have four main priorities in the news role including:

(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.

The appointment is effective on September 28, 2015, the statement said.