The African Development Bank has appointed Omar Sefiani as Acting Director of the Treasury Department, effective 1st November 2022.Sefiani is a Moroccan national and finance expert with over 17 years of experience in international capital markets. He currently manages the Treasury Investments & Trading Division at the Bank. 

In this capacity, Sefiani currently oversees the management of the Treasury investment portfolios of the Bank Group (including the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, Trust Funds and Special Funds), with over $27 billion of assets under management.

Sefiani joined the Bank in 2012 as Senior Investment Officer in the Investments & Trading Division, managing the Bank and Fund’s Euros investment portfolios. 

He was appointed as Chief Investment Officer in 2015 and Division Manager in 2018. 

During this period, he led several key projects including the Bank Group’s readiness for the Renminbi inclusion in the Special Drawing Rights basket and setting up the Bank’s U.S Commercial Paper programme.  

He also serves as the Vice Chairperson of the operational committee tasked with preparing the Bank Group for the transition away from Libor and as the Chair of the financial projection’s working group.

In 2014, Mr. Sefiani received an award of Excellence from the Finance Vice President for achieving the highest score in an International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) examination.

Prior to joining the Bank, Sefiani served in several top tier financial institutions, working at Citigroup London as an Interest Quantitative Analyst, building credit and debit value adjustment (CVA/DVA) models for interest rate and inflation products. 

He worked at Morgan Stanley London as a Hybrid Desk Strategist on complex cross-asset transactions (Interest Rates, Commodities and Equities) and at Credit Agricole as a Credit Structurer devising structured credit products for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) clients. 

He was responsible for executing several large public transactions (of up USD 1 billion) and the first short credit Undertaking for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) fund.

Commenting on his appointment, Sefiani said: “I am grateful to President Adesina for his confidence and the opportunity to lead the Treasury Department and its talented staff during this interim period. Treasury will continue to play a central role in shaping some of the Bank’s key initiatives and I am honored to be given the chance to help drive these. The Bank Group’s mandate and ambitions are important and I look forward to contributing to them.”

The head of the Bank, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina described Mr. Sefiani as a seasoned and respected professional with extensive experience and leadership skills required to drive the financing strategy for the African Development Bank Group. 

Adesina said Sefiani will also assure stability and continuity of leadership of the Treasury team at the Bank, following the appointment of the former Director of the Treasury Department, Ms. Hassatou N’sele as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Bank Group.