This event will focus on the potential and the obstacles for Risk Transfer and the wider implications for development finance.

Long-term development finance provided by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) is key to advancing the United Nations’ 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. But MDBs have limited capital; their lending is a small fraction of capital flows. Risk Transfer reduces risks on MDB balance sheets (e.g.: through the use of guarantees, insurance and securitization) harnessing the large resources of alternative investors. 

Meet our speakers and chair

Simon Bessant is a Board Director and the Global Head of Insurance at The Texel Group. Texel was established over 20 years ago is a privately owned and independent insurance broker specialising in the field of credit and political risk insurance and reinsurance. We are focused purely on arranging, structuring and negotiating CPRI to provide clients with credit and concentration risk mitigation, balance sheet and regulatory capital solutions. Our company represents commercial, investment and multilateral banks as well as development financial institutions, using non-payment insurance to allow them to conservatively grow their lending book.

Chris Canavan is a Partner at Lion’s Head Global Partners. Prior to joining Lion’s Head, Chris spent nine years as Director of Global Policy Development for George Soros, based at Soros Fund Management. Before that he worked for Goldman Sachs for thirteen years. His last position at Goldman was Chief Risk Officer of Goldman’s commercial bank. Before that he ran a credit trading desk in the commodities business, headed the Latin America Debt Capital Markets team, and was responsible for managing the firm’s Latin America sovereign and credit risk. Prior to joining Goldman, Chris taught economics at Boston College and Columbia University.

Hassatou Diop N’Sele is Acting Vice-President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer at the African Development Bank. Ms. Hassatou Diop N’Sele, a Senegalese national, is a seasoned professional with 30 years of banking and finance experience. She joined the Bank in 1999 as a Senior Treasury Officer and successively held the positions of Principal Treasury Officer, Chief Treasury Officer and Manager of the Capital Markets and Financial Operations Division, before being appointed Treasurer of the Bank Group  in 2015.

Federico Galizia is the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) of the Inter-American Development Bank, responsible for managing market, credit, socio-environmental, and operational risk, in accordance with the shareholders’ triple-A mandate. He is a founding member of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) CRO Forum, which coordinates the joint MDBs response to G20 initiatives. Federico was previously Head of Risk and Portfolio Management at the European Investment Fund, Adviser to the President of the European Investment Bank and Deputy Division Chief at the International Monetary Fund.

Nancy Lee (@nleecgd) is a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development and a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Her work focuses on mobilizing private finance for development, reform of multilateral development banks, gender lens investing, and sovereign debt restructuring.

Eric Parrado Herrera (@eric_parrado) is Chief Economist and General Manager of the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) since March 2019. Before joining the IDB, he was a professor of economics and finance at the ESE Business School of the Universidad de los Andes in Santiago, Chile. Mr Parrado is a visiting professor at Oxford University and the Central European University, and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Financial and Monetary Systems.

William Perraudin (@wperraudin) is the Director of Risk Control Limited and Adjunct Professor at Imperial College.

Andrew Powell (@AndyPowell_IDB), Principal Advisor in the Research Department (RES) at the Inter-American Development Bank.

Tim Turner works for the Trade and Development Bank of Eastern and Southern Africa (TDB) as senior advisor to the President with a focus on financial innovation. Before his appointment as CRO in 2013, Tim was the director of the AfDB’s private sector banking team. Tim began his career in finance in 1986 working for the international capital markets division of Smith Barney, an American investment banking firm.

Andrés Velasco (@AndresVelasco) is Professor of Public Policy and Dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

More about this event

Read the policy paper on Risk Transfer for Multilateral Development Banks: Obstacles and Potential, co-authored by Federico Galizia, William Perraudin, Andrew Powell and Timothy Turner, here.

The African Development Bank (@AfDB_Group) contributes to poverty reduction and economic and social development in the least developed African countries by providing concessional funding for projects and programs, as well as technical assistance for studies and capacity-building activities.

The Inter-American Development Bank (@the_IDB) is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The LSE School of Public Policy (@LSEPublicPolicy) equips you with the skills and ideas to transform people and societies. It is an international community where ideas and practice meet. Their approach creates professionals with the ability to analyse, understand and resolve the challenges of contemporary governance.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEPublicPolicy

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Boosting the Lending Power of Multilateral Development Banks Through Risk Transfer.

A video of this event is available to watch at Boosting the Lending Power of Multilateral Development Banks Through Risk Transfer.

Podcasts and videos of many SPP events can be found at the LSE School of Public Policy Events: podcasts and videos page.