African Development Bank Appoints Omar Sefiani Acting Director of Ministry of Finance | African Development Bank

The African Development Bank has appointed Omar Sefiani as Acting Director of the Ministry of Finance from 1 November 2022.

Sefiani is a Moroccan national and financial expert with more than 17 years of experience in international capital markets. He currently heads the Treasury Investments & Trading Division at the Bank. In this capacity, Sefiani currently oversees the management of the Bank Group’s Treasury investment portfolios (including the African Development Bank, African Development Fund, Trust Funds and Special Funds), with more than $27 billion in assets under management.

Sefiani joined the bank in 2012 as a Senior Investment Officer in the Investments & Trading division, where he managed the bank’s and fund’s euro investment portfolios. He was appointed Chief Investment Officer in 2015 and Division Manager in 2018. During this period, he led several key projects, including preparing the banking group for the inclusion of renminbi in the special drawing rights basket and establishing the bank’s US Commercial Paper program. He is also the vice-chairman of the operational committee in charge of preparing the banking group for the transition from Libor and as chairman of the financial projection 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) exam.

Before joining the bank, Sefiani worked at several leading financial institutions. He worked at Citigroup London as an interest rate quantitative analyst, developing 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 developing structured credit products for clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He was responsible for executing several large public transactions (up to 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 Ministry of Finance and its talented staff during this interim period. Finance will continue to play a central role in shaping some of the Bank’s key initiatives and I am honored to have the opportunity to help drive them forward. The Bank Group’s mandate and ambitions are important and I look forward to contributing to them.”

President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said, “I am pleased to appoint Mr. Omar Sefiani as Acting Director of the Ministry of Finance. Omar is a seasoned and respected professional with extensive experience and leadership skills required to drive the funding strategy for the African Development Bank Group. He will also ensure the stability and continuity of the leadership of the Treasury team at the Bank, following the appointment of former Director of the Treasury Department, Ms. Hassatou N’sele, as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Bank Group”.