Anti-Corruption (Session 3) - Promoting Good Governance in Central Banks: The Role of Non-Executive Directors

Location: HQ1 iLab, HQ1-2-701

Robust Oversight Boards are critical to ensuring sound governance of, and mitigating corruption risk in, central banks. In turn, the effectiveness of an Oversight Board hinges on the quality of its non-executive directors. What are challenges and good practices in the selection of best possible non-executive directors? Which eligibility criteria could (or should not) be included in the central bank law? Which selection approaches and procedures are most conducive to selecting top candidates? Join the Challenge!

Join the conversation: #anticorruption #IMFChallenge

Moderator

Wouter Bossu, Senior Counsel, Legal Department, International Monetary Fund

Wouter Bossu currently serves as Senior Counsel for the Legal Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is of Belgian origin and holds degrees in law (Leuven) and business administration (Louvain-la-Neuve). Prior to joining the Fund, he worked for the legal departments of the Belgian and the European Central Banks. His specialties are the legal frameworks of central banking, financial markets and financial stability.

Panelists

Caroline Abel, Governor, Central Bank of Seychelles

Ms Abel took office of the Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles on March 14, 2012. She became the First Deputy Governor on December 27, 2011 following the amendment to the Central Bank Act, 2004 which now makes provision for two Deputy Governors. She was first appointed to the post of Deputy Governor on July 1, 2010. In her position as Governor of the Central Bank, she also represents Seychelles as the alternate Governor for the IMF, World Bank and the African Development Bank and Governor for the African Export-Import Bank. As of May 2017, she assumed the role of Patron of Red Cross Society of Seychelles.

Ms Abel has built her career in the Central Bank itself and she first joined the institution in April 1994 after completing her A Levels. Over the years with exposure to training both technical and personal, attendance of various seminars/workshops pertaining to the workings of a Central Bank and attachments at other Central Banks and the commercial banking world both locally and abroad, providing her with the capacity to assume further responsibilities through the following path.

On entry in 1994, she assumed the role of a Senior Bank Clerk and was exposed to all the Divisions of the Bank. After completing her first degree in 1999, she was promoted to the position of Research Officer in the Research and Statistics Division. She became a Senior Research Officer in the same Division in 2001, followed in 2002 to the position of Director of Research. In 2004, she had the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree and in early 2006, she was promoted to Head of Division for Research and Statistics, a position she held up to the point of being appointed Deputy Governor.

Ms Abel holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Monetary Economics and Finance from the University of Glasgow obtained in 2005 and a BA in Economics from the University of Leeds achieved in 1999. of Economics

George Kabwe, Division Chief, Safeguards Assessment Division, Finance Department, International Monetary Fund

George Kabwe is the head of the Safeguards Assessment Division at the IMF. He previously worked with KPMG in the United Kingdom and the US primarily in the audit practice. At the IMF he has worked in the Finance Department on financial reporting issues, the IMF’s income model, and safeguards assessments of central banks. Mr. Kabwe has a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering from the University of Birmingham in the UK and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Jaap van Manen, former member of the Supervisory Board at the Nederlandsche Bank

Jaap van Manen (1950) is a former partner at PwC and emeritus professor of corporate governance at the Dutch University of Groningen. From 2013 to 2017, Jaap chaired the Dutch Corporate Governance Committee, which revised the Dutch Corporate Governance Code.

From 2011 to 2018, Jaap was a member (vice chairman since 2015) of the supervisory board of the Nederlandsche Bank (the Dutch Central Bank). In 2018, he acted as an IMF central bank governance advisor.

Since January 2019, Jaap is chairman of the supervisory Board of APG Group N.V. Jaap is also a member the supervisory board of Bornet Group Rotterdam. He is a board member of several other organisations in the public sector. Jaap is a partner at Strategic Management Centre, which deals with issues related to corporate governance, strategy and processes in the boardroom. Jaap is the chairman of an independent committee which investigates the bankruptcy of two hospitals in the Netherlands.

Jaap van Manen is a knight in the order of the Lion of the Netherlands.

Mohammed Nyaoga, Chair, Board of Directors, Central Bank of Kenya

Mohammed Nyaoga is the Senior Partner at Mohammed Muigai LLP. He holds LLB and LLM degrees from the University of Nairobi and Diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. He is a Certified Public Secretary (CPS); holds certificates in Corporate Governance from Commonwealth Association of Corporate Governance, Certificate from American Securities and Exchange Commission; a Certified Company Director and a Member of the Institute of

Directors of Kenya. He specializes in Corporate Finance, Civil, Commercial, Litigation and Corporate Governance. In addition to the practice of Law, he has been Vice-Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, Chairman of its Business Laws Committee and Chairman of the Mining Licences Task Force. He has also been a Director of Capital Markets Authority, Chairman of International Commission of Jurists, Council member of Law Society of Kenya, Special Board Corporate Governance Advisor and Chairman of EcoBank Kenya. He has also been Chairman at the Commission of Inquiry into the suspension of the County Government of Makueni. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Central Bank of Kenya. He is also currently a PhD student researching on "The Role of Regulation and Corporate Governance of Banks in Kenya".

In addition, he is a certified training consultant in corporate governance with the Centre for Corporate Governance for over 16 years where he has trained over 10,000 directors in Kenya and in several jurisdictions. He has also been a consultant and Trainer for State University of New York on procurement (SUNNY Kenya) and a Lecturer (I-LM Programme) University of Nairobi, School of Law (Business Law Department) on Public Procurement and accounting law. He is currently a regular Trainer/ Speaker at Central Banking Publications (UK) Governance Training Series at Windsor, Cambridge and Oxford and also one of authors and editors of Central Banking Publications.