Breaking the Glass Ceiling: India’s Anshula Kant Becomes the First Woman to Be Appointed CFO of the World Bank Group

On July 12th, David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, announced that Anshula Kant has been appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the World Bank Group. She is the first woman to be appointed as CFO of the WB Group.

Born on September 7th, 1960, Anshula Kant did her Bachelors' in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women in 1978, and completed her Masters in Economics from Delhi School of Economics. She’s a Certified Associate at the Indian Institute of Bankers.

In 1983, Anshula joined State Bank of India (SBI) as a probationary officer and eventually went on to become the MD. During this period, she has held various positions like Chief General Manager of SBI, Mumbai, Deputy MD of Operations for National Banking Group, and has also served as the CEO of the Singapore unit of the bank.

Currently, she manages $38 billion of revenues and total assets of $500 billion. She’s directly responsible for the bank’s Risk, Compliance, and Stressed Asset Portfolio. She’s an expert in retail banking, corporate credit, and cross-border trade and banking in developed markets (both retail and wholesale).

As MD and CFO of the World Bank Group, Anshula will be responsible for financial and risk management of the company and will report to President David Malpass in Washington DC. Apart from this, she’ll also oversee financial reporting and mobilisation of International Development Association (IDA) of WB, and will work closely with World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva.

Speaking about her, David said, "She's excelled at a diverse array of leadership challenges including risk, treasury, funding, regulatory compliance and operations. I look forward to welcoming her to our management team as we work to increase our effectiveness in supporting good development outcomes.”