Arunma Oteh named as VP and Treasurer of World Bank

The immediate past Director General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission Arunma Oteh has been named Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank.

According to a statement from the World Bank, Oteh – whose appointment takes effect from September 28, 2015 – will manage and lead a large and diverse team responsible for managing more than US$150 billion in assets.

Her top priorities include:

(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 institution;
(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 the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), expanding shared approaches, in particular around innovative financing for development and for key new projects.

Prior to heading the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria, Oteh 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 the African financial institution’s fundraising and capital market activities across the world.

Oteh brings to her new role a whole slew of skills and experience which includes: trading room management; investment portfolio coverage, and public sector lending. She has also held other positions in capital markets and lending during the course of her career at the African Development Bank.

Oteh earned her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria and her Masters of Business Administration from Harvard University.