The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has appointed Hassatou Diop N’sele, a seasoned professional with over 30 years of banking and finance experience, as Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer.
Commenting on her appointment, N’Sele, expressed her excitement and appreciation for the executives and stakeholders of the bank for the appointment.
“I am grateful to President Adesina for appointing me to this position and for his confidence. It is an honor and a privilege to serve the African Development Bank Group’s powerful and formidable development mandate. I am looking forward to working under the leadership of President Adesina, 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.”
Hassatou Diop N’sele
Commenting on the appointment, the president of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said, “I am pleased to appoint Hassatou Diop N’Sele as the Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer.”
“Hassatou is a seasoned finance professional with extensive experience and outstanding contributions at the African Development Bank. She will provide leadership for the top-rate finance team at the Bank, in the formulation and implementation of the Bank’s financial strategies and transformation agenda in support and furtherance of its development mandate.”
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina
Hassatou joined the bank in 1999 as a senior treasury officer and successively held positions of principal treasury officer, chief treasury officer, and manager of the Capital Markets and Financial Operations Division, prior to her appointment as treasurer of the AfDB in 2015.
N’Sele holds a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) in Finance (1990), and a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business (1987), both from the George Washington University, Washington DC, USA. She has been the acting Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer since November 2021.
As treasurer of the Bank Group, N’Sele has been providing strategic leadership to enhance the Bank’s fundraising, investments, and hedging activities, and led the successful expansion of the African Development Bank’s capital markets activities across the globe. She leads a diverse team of highly seasoned professionals, managing over US$33 billion under the Bank’s borrowing portfolio, overseeing the Bank Group’s investment of over US$25 billion liquidity in multicurrency portfolios, and supervising the Bank Group’s hedging activities, banking relationships, and back-office operations.
N’Sele spearheaded the Bank’s foray into the green bonds and social bonds markets. Among her key achievements in capital markets are award-winning transactions and recognition, including the US$3 billion Fight COVID-19 bond launched in 2020, making the bank the largest MDB issuer of social bonds to date.
As the bank group treasurer, N’Sele led key strategic and technical financial initiatives geared toward optimizing the Bank’s financial capacity. She established the blueprint for the long-term financial sustainability of the Bank, and led and played a key role in the design of the Special Temporary Callable Capital Increase under the oversight of the President and Vice- President of Finance.
N’Sele Brings Strategic and Technical Leadership
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 led the design of the framework for the long-term financial sustainability of the Bank in 2018 – 2019. She also provided strategic support to discussions with member countries on General capital increases for the African Development Bank, replenishments of the African Development Fund, and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).
Moreover, N’Sele is spearheading discussions with rating agencies on key financial matters. Under N’Sele’s leadership, the Bank successfully transitioned from Libor and introduced hybrid capital in its financing toolkit.
From May 2017 to July 2018 and from November 2021 up to this appointment, Hassatou Diop N’Sele was the Acting Vice President for Finance & Chief Financial Officer of the Bank Group. In this, under the guidance of President Adesina and the Senior Management Team, she successfully spearheaded activities leading to the Board of Governors’ discussions on a seventh General Capital Increase for the African Development Bank.
As an acting Vice President, N’Sele oversaw the establishment of the Balance sheet optimization framework and the development of the first synthetic securitization transaction of the Bank. She also ensured the smooth operations of the Finance Complex, including financial reporting and management of the Staff Retirement Plan.
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