W. Paati Ofosu-Amaah

Remarks: Promoting financial literacy in Africa. The contribution of the African Development Bank

Mr. W. Paatii Ofosu-Amaah is Special Adviser to the President of the African Development Bank.

Prior to joining the ADB, Mr. Ofosu-Amaah worked for 29 years at the World Bank and held several senior positions, the last being Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank Group. Prior to that appointment in 2003, He served the Bank for 23 years in its Legal Vice Presidency, where he was, inter alia, Acting General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, Chief Counsel, Africa Division and Legal Adviser, Environmental Affairs. Before joining the World Bank, he worked as an associate in the New York law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell and as Legal Officer in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in New York.

Mr. Ofosu-Amaah’s contributions over his career, include, as Chief Counsel, Africa, working on a variety of complex and flagship regional projects, including the legal aspects of the establishment of the African Capacity Building Foundation, pioneering legal and judicial reform projects in Africa, contributing to the development of various environmental and social-related policies of the World Bank and the establishment of the Global Environment Facility, overseeing the legal aspects of more than 500 projects financed by the Bank in Africa and assisting in the selection of the last two Presidents of the World Bank.

He is a Visiting Professorial Fellow at Queen Mary College. London University, serves on the Board of the Nelson Mandela Institution and has published and written on a variety of subjects, including on selected legal aspects of combating corruption, governance-related issues, capacity building and legal and judicial reform in Africa.

He has law degrees from the University of Ghana and Harvard Law School.

Summit Video: Paatii Ofosu-Amaah
Financial Literacy and Banking the Unbanked: From Thirld World Poor to First World Under-Served