World Bank appoints Arunma Oteh as Vice President and Treasurer

24 Jul 2015
Financial Nigeria

Summary

Ms. Oteh exited her position as DG of SEC in January 2015,

Arunma Oteh, VP and Treasurer, World Bank and former DG, Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission

The World Bank Group has announced the appointment of former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria, Arunma Oteh, as its Vice President and Treasurer. The appointment was confirmed in a statement by the President of the World Bank, Dr. Jim Yong Kim.

Ms. Oteh exited her position as head of the agency in charge of regulating Nigeria's stock exchanges and securities industries in January, 2015, after completing her statutory five-year tenure. In the statement by Dr. Kim, Arunma Oteh “led the transformation of the country’s capital markets industry into a major global presence. She was 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.”

The former SEC DG who has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and an MBA from Harvard University, USA, led various reforms at SEC which helped the Nigerian capital market recover from the 2009 financial crisis. Despite her bold efforts, which restored investors’ confidence and market integrity, Ms. Oteh was not without formidable detractors. Former President Goodluck Jonathan was under political pressure from the National Assembly to remove her from office before the expiration of her first term, but the former president rebuffed the legislators and stood by her.

As Vice President and Treasurer of the global development financial institution, the President of the World Bank Group said Ms. Oteh will “manage and lead a large and diverse team responsible for managing more than $150 billion in assets. 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 WBG, including with IFC and MIGA, expanding shared approaches, in particular around innovative financing for development and for key new projects.”

Prior to joining SEC, Ms. Oteh was Group Vice President, Corporate Services, at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). She began her career in 1985 at Centre Point, where she executed debt and equity offerings in the Nigerian capital markets.

The appointment of Ms. Oteh is effective on September 28, 2015.


Other Photos/Videos

Advertisement