Development finance institution the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has appointed Hassatou Diop N’Sele as finance VP and CFO. She has been acting in the role since November 2021.

“It is an honour and a privilege to serve the AfDB’s powerful and formidable development mandate. I am looking forward to working with my dedicated and talented colleagues at the bank, and with our board of directors, to continue to support the mandate and mission of the African Development Bank to transform Africa,” N’Sele comments.

“N’Sele is a seasoned finance professional with extensive experience and outstanding contributions at the AfDB. She will provide leadership for the top-rate finance team at the bank, in the formulation and implementation of its financial strategies and transformation agenda, and in support and furtherance of its development mandate,” AfDB president Dr Akinwumi Adesina says.

N’Sele is an accomplished professional with more than 30 years of banking and finance experience. She joined the AfDB in 1999 as senior treasury officer. She also held the positions of principal treasury officer, chief treasury officer and manager of the Capital Markets and Financial Operations division, before being appointed Treasurer of the AfDB in 2015.

As treasurer, she has provided strategic leadership to enhance the bank’s fund raising, investments and hedging activities. She led the successful global expansion of the AfDB’s capital markets activities, the group says.

N'Sele leads a diverse team of highly seasoned professionals, managing more than $33-billion under the bank’s borrowing portfolio, overseeing the group’s investment of more than $25-billion liquidity in multicurrency portfolios, and supervising its hedging activities, banking relationships and back office operations.

Additionally, N’Sele spearheaded the AfDB’s entry into the green bonds and social bonds markets. Among her key achievements in capital markets are award winning transactions and recognition, including the $3-billion Fight Covid-19 bond launched in 2020. This made the AfDB the largest multilateral development bank issuer of social bonds to date, the institution says.

Further, N’Sele has led key strategic and technical financial initiatives geared towards optimising the institution’s financial capacity. She established the blueprint for its long-term financial sustainability. She also played a key role in the design of the Special Temporary Callable Capital Increase under the oversight of the president and VP for finance.

As treasurer, N’Sele is providing strategic and technical leadership in discussions on the bank’s financial and risk bearing capacity, and the development of new financial products. She drove the design of the framework for the long-term financial sustainability of the bank group from 2018 to 2019, the institution says.

Meanwhile, N’Sele also provided strategic support to discussions with member countries on general capital increases for the AfDB, replenishments of the African Development Fund, and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

She is spearheading discussions with rating agencies on key financial matters. Under her leadership, the AfDB successfully transitioned from the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate and introduced hybrid capital in its financing toolkit, the group says.