Afua Kyei serves as the Chief Financial Officer at the Bank of England, where she oversees Finance, Strategy, Performance, and Tax.
Additionally, she holds co-executive sponsorship for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives and the Bank’s Climate Change disclosure efforts.
Joining in June 2019, Afua has been integral to the Bank’s leadership and decision-making processes. She manages the financial governance of the Bank’s balance sheet, which reached over £1 trillion at its peak during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Her responsibilities include updating the Bank’s funding mechanism, as reflected in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023.
Afua also serves as a Director of several Bank initiatives, including the Bank of England Asset Purchase Facility Fund, Alternative Liquidity Facility, and the Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
She played a pivotal role in operationalizing the Energy Markets Financing Scheme. Furthermore, as a member of the Bank’s Executive Board, Afua oversees the upgrade of the UK’s Real-Time Gross Settlement System, a Critical National Infrastructure processing over £750 billion in payments daily.
Afua is a prominent keynote speaker, representing the Bank at various international fora such as the IMF, G20, and COP, as well as engaging with businesses and communities.
Her achievements have been recognized with numerous accolades. In 2021, she was honored as CFO of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards UK.
She was also featured in the Cranfield FTSE Board Report ‘100 Women to Watch 2022‘ and listed among the Kindness & Leadership, 50 Leading Lights UK campaign in 2022.
Afua’s reputation extends globally, as evidenced by her inclusion in the ‘2023 list of 100 Most Reputable Africans‘ by Reputation Poll International. In recognition of her contributions, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2023 and named the third most influential Briton of black heritage in the Powerlist 2024.
Prior to joining the Bank, Afua held key roles at Barclays Bank (2012-2019), where she served as the Chief Financial Officer Mortgages and contributed significantly to Barclays’ strategic cost transformation program, TRANSFORM, across the Investment Bank and Group COO divisions. She also served as a Diversity & Inclusion ambassador at Barclays.
During the Global Financial Crisis, Afua worked as an Investment Banker at UBS (2007-2012) in the Financial Institutions Group and Mergers and Acquisitions, Group Strategic Advisory.
She played a vital role in advising RBS during the crisis, particularly in relation to divestments mandated by EU State Aid remediation, participation in HM Treasury’s £282 billion Asset Protection Scheme, and capital issuance of £33.5 billion to HM Treasury. Afua began her career as a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) at Ernst & Young, where she worked in Mergers and Acquisitions and Banking & Capital Markets Audit.
Afua holds a degree in Chemistry from Somerville College, Oxford University (2000-2004), where she conducted research in Professor Sir Jack Baldwin’s group.
Her research on the creation of anti-tumorous molecules using Organic Synthesis was published in an international science journal. She graduated with a Master’s degree and was awarded a Junior Research Fellowship by Princeton University in Organic Chemistry.
In 2023, Afua was elected an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford University.
Passionate about driving positive societal outcomes and fostering cultural changes within organizations, Afua is dedicated to making a meaningful impact.
Congratulations!
