Description

Do you want to build a truly worthwhile career? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their most significant development challenges.  The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development.  With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

Treasury is the Vice Presidency, reporting to the Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer, performing treasury functions for the IBRD and IDA and, to varying degrees, for other members of the World Bank Group and other public sector investors.  Its activities are organized and grouped into the following departments: Capital Markets and Investment Management, Client Asset Management and Advisory, and Treasury Operations. The Treasury VPU also includes the Risk, Compliance, and Controls Unit.

Treasury has been a large and significant market innovator in the international financial markets for over seventy years and has achieved a global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower, investor, and risk manager.  Treasury is responsible for: (i) managing approximately $185 billion in assets for the World Bank and other official sector investors; (ii) leading IBRD’s and IDA’s triple-A rated financing programs in international and domestic bond and derivative markets; (iii) conducting asset and liability management for IBRD’s and IDA’s balance sheets; (iv) overseeing the development and outreach related to the financing and hedging products the Bank provides for its developing-country clients; and (v) collaborating with the World Bank member countries to help build their capacity.  Treasury staff regularly interact and collaborate with Departments across the Bank and Finance Partners teams.

Asset tokenization enabled through blockchain technologies are having a significant impact on the financial markets, revolutionizing the way assets are created, traded, settled and accessed.  Instantaneous validation, atomic settlement and data transparency are the rationales for market participants to explore and potentially adapt such technology.  As Treasury being one of the largest primary market issuers in the international capital markets, it essential to be aware and staying abreast of their development to ensure our readiness to the developments to the future of financial markets.

Treasury is interested to understand the alternative pathways in servicing cross-border payments and how market providers might be evolving in terms of the interoperability and standardization of clearing infrastructures, settlement rules, and payment solutions.  A next generation of digital money is quickly emerging in the form of crypto-assets and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).  It is important to understand the evolution of digital economy to possibly improve cross-border payments efficiency, and promote financial inclusion.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is redefining how we work, as it enhances data-driven decision-making, operational efficiency, risk management and fraud detection.  Treasury is currently working on use cases to analyze large datasets quickly, automate routine tasks, predict payment risks, and identify fraudulent activities.  These are in hopes to enhance operational efficiency and drive innovation in new financial products and services.

Treasury Operations (TREOP) provides a full range of middle and back office support for Treasury’s asset management, capital markets and banking functions.  TREOP is organized in three operational units: Asset and Liability Operations (TREAL), Banking Operations (TREBK), and Quantitative Solutions and Analytics (TREQA), which are supported by a TRE Technology Coordination unit (TREFT).

The primary responsibilities for the Treasury Operations Financial Technology (TREFT) are two-fold: (i) to coordinate the efficient internal administration of World Bank Treasury’s Information Technology infrastructure across all institutional, project, maintenance, budget and planning cycles, ensuring it remains fit for purpose, up-to-date, and secure and reliable, and (ii) to develop appropriate strategic technology planning in relation to Treasury’s significant standing in the global financial markets and to leverage that standing to build internal and external partnerships for market and development effect.  Current technology initiatives include Treasury’s participation in large scale asset and liability system renewal, system upgrades in response to regulatory reforms and emerging technology projects and research in fields such as blockchain, asset tokenization, digital currency (CBDC), Robotic Processing and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.

This position is an extraordinary opportunity to engage at the forefront of Fintech application in support of World Bank’s financial and development agenda, to leverage Treasury’s market standing and global reach and to work in partnership with the Bank’s Innovation Lab and external partners. 

The Lead Financial Officer of the TREFT team seeks a dynamic individual who combines technical expertise, the capacity to work autonomously, and excellent communication skills.

Duties and Accountabilities:

Overall, the candidate is expected to understand: (i) World Bank Treasury’s business context; (ii) the expanding relationship between internal business partners and external banks / fintech firms; and (iii) sound knowledge of the global financial markets and their operational activities; and (iv) the benefits and threats with the momentum building around Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. 

The Senior Financial Officer (Grade GG) will be responsible for the following roles and contribute to other Treasury initiatives as needed:

Capital Projects and Annual Investment Planning (AIP) Process

• Administer the Annual Investment Planning (AIP) program for the Treasury (TRE) department, including the planning, and setting of the AIP calendar as well as coordination among all key stakeholders including TRE units, ITS, and the ITS PMO.

• Work closely with each TRE unit (covering trading, settlement, analytics, banking and accounting) to understand their investment needs and priorities involving Lead Financial Officer as needed, and ensure all guidelines are followed for AIP submission.

• Assist in preparing capital funding requests, identify system modernization opportunities, and provide oversight, quality review, negotiation support and advisory to TRE business units on the IT investment requests from each.

• Conduct consultation meetings at different stages of the AIP process – including planning, developing the agenda, preparing materials, providing updates on key projects, as well as tracking actions.

• Support the Treasury Operations Committee (TOC) and Finance & HR Advisory Sub-Committee for the Information Technology Committee (ITC) in the AIP decision-making process. Maintain an institutional view and insight on current investment demands across the WBG.

 • Periodically monitor and report to the TRE Senior Management on the status of TRE capital projects, the AIP and O&M costs.

• Serve as a key point of contact for all communications among TRE units, ITS and Corporate Procurement staff, providing regular briefings to Lead Financial Officer and Senior Management.

Projects for Blockchain/DLT and Emerging Technologies

• Champion the identification and dissemination of innovative Fintech ideas and explore best practices. To the extent possible: (i) participating in communities of practice for Fintech related topics within the World Bank and the wider global community, and (ii) exploring the impact of distributed technologies on financial and payment systems with leading industry researchers and practitioners.

• Arrange dialogues with SMEs in exploring Blockchain/DLT and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, while working closely with all key stakeholders from Finance Partners and ITS Innovation Lab by providing technical guidance and advisory.

• Explore and participate in proof of concepts in the usage of the asset tokenization, digital currency, and artificial intelligence/machine learning under Treasury’s operating portfolios and workflows.

• Experience in developing and implementing strategic plans and roadmaps for integrating AI technologies into financial and treasury operations, focusing on enhancing efficiency and decision-making with emerging technology.

• Ability to leverage AI insights to support and inform executive decision-making and drive business operations

• Proven leadership in managing and collaborating with cross-functional teams, including data scientists, financial analysts, and IT professionals, to deliver AI projects on time and within budget.

• Skilled in communicating AI concepts and project outcomes to senior management and stakeholders, ensuring alignment with business objectives and regulatory requirements.

• Establish a robust project governance and reporting structure for all ongoing TRE fintech projects as various project initiatives enter the implementation phase.

Current Treasury System Landscape

• Advise on Treasury system’s landscape and roadmap with a focus on providing an end-to-end picture of TRE’s system landscape including the systems integration architecture in support to its system landscape modernization strategy.

• Work closely with ITS Enterprise Architects to ensure compliance, and with ITS Infrastructure/Cloud Teams, Data Engineers, Network Admins, et al to ensure smooth deployment of configuration, renewal, and etc. of keeping TRE applications running.

• Coordinate across various departments and motivate the staff members to complete the projects considering external and internal deadlines.  Create long- and short-term plans, including setting targets for milestones and adhering to deadlines.

• Contribute to the implementation, maintenance, and monitoring project execution for business-critical financial applications in support of Treasury’s lines of business.  This includes applications that perform trade capture, settlement, accounting, valuation, quantitative analysis, market data capture, curve construction, call monitoring, SWIFT messaging, collateral management, reporting, etc.

• Track and monitor system upgrades, retirements, and both upstream and downstream impact of any application changes and its impact on the dependent business processes and the underlying data flows.

Other Duties and Accountabilities:

• Lead, coordinate and deliver Treasury and WFA Digital Knowledge Exchange and support the Lead Financial Officer in further enhancing the collaboration between the two VPUs.  Support other MDB-wide forum and conferences, as needed, to foster stronger interactions within the MDB community.

• Support the Lead Financial Officer in developing strategies to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of TREFT’s mandate.  Propose plans and strategies that focus on and align to TRE’s long-term objectives.

• Participate in efforts to design, update, and implement the fintech strategy, business planning, budget formulation, organization, and strategic staffing including hiring.

• Coach/mentor TREFT staff on work program and project management to raise the bench strength.

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Technologies or similar, and typically the successful candidate will have 8 years of relevant experience in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically and synthesize complex issues (translated into effective oral and written briefs) and to communicate effectively with management and staff at all levels.

• Deep understanding of the WBG’s strategic priorities, particularly in relation to the areas of the ITS capital budgeting framework and financial technologies to balance and maneuver the budget pressure, development finance needs and new Treasury business initiatives.

• Proven track record in successfully working with Senior Management and Finance Complex stakeholders, and demonstrated capacity for negotiating and managing trade-offs at a senior level with diverse and demanding priorities.

• Demonstrated pragmatic approach to problem solving, producing high quality work, and adapting to competing and unexpected demands.

• Self-starter able to provide creative, effective ways of overcoming project management and execution challenges.

• Deep technical knowledge and experience in finance, including experience in complex transactions in different financial markets and interacting with the essential agents and custodians.

• Recognized leader in finance and/or deep familiarity with financial markets, infrastructures, technology, systems and change management.

• Experience leading large systems implementation projects across VPU and teams is a plus.

Note: If the selected candidate is a current World Bank Group Staff Member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, they will retain their Regular or Open-Ended appointment. If the selected candidate is a current World Bank Group Staff Member with a Term appointment that expires later than the end date of this appointment, they will retain the duration of their current Term appointment.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.