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Afua Kyei

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  1. “Well, I would say I've never had a fixed plan. Opportunities have come up and I've gone with the flow but what I have got is a very strong sense of purpose I want to continue to work on things that have real impact and real influence and solve real problems and in terms of legacy I'd say, if you can't see it, be it. And You don't like it. Change it”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Come back and say, This is what we're doing with what we've heard. It's not that comments have just gone into a black box and nothing happens. Actually, there should be tangible action and there should be progress that we can demonstrate and hold ourselves accountable for.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “I would say it's a mixed picture in the sense that we listen to feedback and then we respond to it. But the feedback is naturally very mixed depending on the demographic that we receive feedback from. And in those instances, we try to have interactive sessions so leaders make themselves available. So, for example, Andrew Bailey, members of court, host coffee sessions where colleagues can sign up and say what's on their mind. We very much have a speak-up culture where people feel that they can say whatever they're thinking to the most senior leaders and they will make the time to hear and they will also”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “We are hiring across the board and we also look at promotion rates. So those are things that we can sort of look at so that we can make informed judgments based on both the data as well as the actual on-the-ground feedback in terms of lived experiences that colleagues are facing. And it's through that that we believe we can start to move the dial and make progress. But it all comes back down to reflecting on is there a challenge here? Is there an issue that we need to tackle head on? And what are we going to do about it and to hold ourselves to account which is what we're doing?”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “So, the bank very publicly published the court review of ethnic diversity and we found that we were falling short in terms of making sure that colleagues of a minority ethnic background were having the same experience as colleagues of a white background. And we listened to staff, we looked at the data, and we looked at trends and we looked at specific targets. And we have held ourselves to account in ensuring that we stick to our targets and we listen not just to sort of what we might think the data is telling us, but also we listen to what colleagues are telling us and tell us and also we look at the reasons why, for example, colleagues are leaving. We look at the types of colleagues who”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “And I would add to that and say it's really important to listen to the voice of employees. So to have a two-way dialogue with colleagues to understand what is their lived experience, what's coming through staff surveys, what's coming through conversations, are there patterns and are there trends and are there things that need to be addressed? And I would also say It's really important for the leadership to actually walk the walk and not just talk the talk And when colleagues look at the leadership, it's important for them to see leaders who represent them. And we know that leaders have both visible differences and invisible differences. And that should reflect The employees, and I think it helps build trust, it builds confidence that anyone can get on and anyone can succeed in a particular organization.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “I think first and foremost we must remember that where strategic initiatives have been put in place in the past, they were there for a reason and to Hold ourselves to account and say, have those strategic initiatives actually delivered as they were intended to. And I am a firm believer in targets. You'd expect that with me being a CFO. I believe that what gets measured gets done and therefore it's important to look back at any targets that have been set and to say have these targets been met? If yes, is it sustainable? If not, why not? Are there underlying things that need to be resolved”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Organizations to understand their customer, to be able to relate to their customer, to engage with their customer and understand the challenges and the needs of their customer. And what better way to do that than to actually have a workforce that represents the customers that you're trying to appeal to so that you can grow. And also so that you can innovate and find new approaches to upcoming challenges. I'd say the second part of that would be resilience. It's really important that organizations can draw on diverse sets of experience, skills, backgrounds, perspectives to create new solutions to problems as they arise and to avoid groupthink. And I think it makes institutions more resilient, more fit for the purpose and better to weather the storms ahead. So I think we need to remember the business case”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “I think first of all, we must remind ourselves of why DEI was ever important. And for me, the overarching principle is equality. And we also have to remind ourselves of the business case. And for me, there are two key ones. customer centricity. Whether you're a public sector institution or a private sector institution, from a public sector perspective, it's important that we represent the society that we're serving. So representing the public is important. And from a private sector,”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Firms increasingly and individuals are also using AI and leveraging the benefits of AI to enhance core decision making and also to enhance productivity and efficiency gains. But amidst that, there are clearly systemic risks, there are operational risks such as cyber threats. And so we will need to keep a close eye on that so that we can ensure that the use of AI is responsibly managed and so that we have a good understanding of the systemic rifts that might evolve over time.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Well, as you say, we launched this consortium back in May, the AI Consortium, and the idea is that we convene a broad range of stakeholders. I think we've got something like 26 AI experts, and we discuss across the private sector, across the private sector, the developments, the challenges, the capabilities of AI. And what we are keen to ensure is that there is responsible use of AI throughout the financial system, and we need to understand the developments. So what we have been doing is facilitating discussion. And we actually published the first set of minutes back in July, I think. And so I'd say, watch this space.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “And so through our committees, for example, the prudential regulation authority, the PRA, we have, the PRA has a secondary objective to support competition and to support competitiveness and growth. So that's how we influence more broadly. But as we look forward, those are the key that's our key role and that's where we will continue to focus.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Well, first and foremost, we need to keep prices low and stable And we need to protect the value of our money. And we need to make sure that the cost of living is affordable for everyone. And it's also really important that as regulator of the financial services industry that we ensure that the banks building societies and insurers are all run effectively Also, that we remember the learnings from the global financial crisis. What's also important as we think ahead is that the Bank of England also has a secondary objective to support government economic policy”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “The decisions that we make influence every household in the UK, and I wanted to be part of that. And having had a career in the private sector, as you say, as a chartered accountant, as a banker, it was a really rare opportunity, I thought, to be able to use the skills that I gained in the private sector in the public sector, in banking, really at the heart of the UK economy and financial system And so it felt deeply purposeful. But actually, yeah, it's a beautiful building and you can't help but feel energized and it's really uplifting anytime you walk through the great front doors downstairs. And did you know we've actually got an exhibition on at the moment in the Bank of England Museum where you can learn all about the bank's architecture and building? So I'd definitely recommend that to anyone who might be interested.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “I joined the Bank of England or actually let me go back. So I went through a very rigorous process to become the CFO of the Bank of England and it culminated with an interview by the former governor Mark Carney. And I remember throughout the interview process really loving all the conversations that I was having with the people who I met. And I really felt deeply this is somewhere where I will really like working. And I loved the fact that this institution has real impact on society.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “I'm a big fan of STEM and I really do think that the younger generation should appreciate the opportunities that a career in STEM can provide and it's not necessarily the case that you'll be pigeonholed into a career in STEM, but actually it's the skills that you develop and the experiences that you have that can actually be passported to a whole number of things. Keep the options open and STEM is always a good thing.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “You know, if I think about it, what really strikes me is that people don't always understand how relevant science is in leadership. And if I explain myself a bit more fully, Margaret Thatcher was clearly the first female British Prime Minister, and she read chemistry at Somerville College, which is where I read chemistry. And I met Angela Merkel towards the end of last year, and she is also a chemist by background and by academic sort of training. And she too rose to become the first female leader when she became the Chancellor of Germany. So I think there's something in that. And I think people don't always appreciate how much of a solid foundation science gives. You and how versatile it is in terms of helping you to lead an influence at the highest level.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “I would say that science has absolutely influenced how I approach leadership. So, for example, I grew up experimenting in labs and so I really embrace innovation. I love to try new approaches. I'm very much, if it hasn't been done, well, let's try it. Let's see how far we can get. And I bring that into how I think about problems. I'd say that science has also given me a very strong foundation in problem solving, in analytics, and also in making evidence-based judgments.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Zigzagging is okay, you'll get there in the end. And finally, I would say what's really important is to build relationships. And as much as people coming up through their careers and people who are already established in their careers might be thinking about the risks that AI poses to sort of the labour market. What's really important is relationship building and drawing on our innate human strengths and building those and making the most of what we have. And therefore, I would say go for it.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “From an advice perspective, from an encouragement perspective, don't worry if you don't tick all the boxes and don't worry if you don't have the obvious experience. Don't be intimidated. Just make the most of what you have because actually what you're building are transferable skills that you can use in other areas. And then secondly, what I would say is don't worry if you don't have a plan.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Now, by contrast, I was an organic chemist working in the labs. And so if you can picture it, I was going to the labs every day and I'd be putting on my white coat, my white lab coat and my big goggles. And I'd be standing behind my fume hood working in a vacuum. It was pretty isolated and not so socially interactive. I sought collaboration, but you had to go out of your way to really sort of collaborate. It wasn't an innate part of doing the research. And of course, a career in research chemistry is a very long path. I discovered that I'd need to do a PhD and a couple of postdocs. And so I realized that I wanted to do something more fast-paced. And something where the results were more immediate. And I therefore decided to pivot. And so all of this is to say that”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “And we had coming into the store every day lots of international customers from all over the world and also Londoners, tourists, everything. And I was working as part of a team of colleagues. And so I had friends. And we were talking to each other and we'd talk about sales and commission because we were all being paid commission and we'd talk about how to get the stock up from the stock room up to the floor. We'd talk about branding. We'd talk about what went into the window. And that really got me thinking about a career in the world of commerce. And, you know, it was very much a case of you could see the results of your work quickly because we were making commission.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “The world of business, which I saw as more fast-paced. And if I rewind back to about 2000 when I was just about to go to university, I got a part-time job working the holidays, working for Burberry, which was going through a big brand transformation. So you'll remember the Burberry check, the Plaid and Burberry was trying to position itself as a luxury brand. And I was working in the new flagship store in Mayfair.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Okay, so can I say a little bit about my journey? I, as you said, have changed course a few different times and there have been different challenges along. And I didn't have any experience in healthcare or working for a hospital or anything like that. But what I did have was a lot of volunteering experience. And so that was how I was able to demonstrate that sort of I cared about society. And so had I decided to pursue medicine, that would have been one way that I would have gone about it. I then decided that I wanted to be a research chemist, but I didn't have experience. And so while I was at Oxford, I volunteered to work in the chemistry labs, the organic chemistry labs during my holidays. And through that, I was able to apply successfully to Princeton University where I was awarded a junior research fellowship. And while I was at Princeton, I remember thinking about”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “I grew up thinking that I could try everything. I was very much encouraged to sort of just pursue my interests and so I literally did try lots of different things and I was interested in lots of different things and so I had a variety of interests and that brought me into contact with lots and lots of different people so socially I had different social groups that I was part of and I was always always loving being around people whether that was at church or whether that was amongst family members or whether that was amongst friends and even now I've got a very eclectic set of friends because I still have lots and lots of different interests and my friends span all sorts of different demographics and generations”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “I worked at Oxfam, I did bronze and silver Duke of Edinburgh Award and I also started a company which was under the Young Enterprise Scheme and we won Best Company in Croydon which was the borough in which I grew up and so I was ambitious in the sense that I always had loads of different interests and I was very social and so I think that's been a key part. I've always had lots of interests”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “Guess looking back, I must have been pretty ambitious. I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to help people and I knew that if I wanted to be a doctor then I needed to have top-notch grades. So I worked hard to get the grades and I had a deep interest in science and I had a love for languages, particularly modern languages and that probably explains why I did 6A levels and I jumped a year in school so I actually went to Oxford University when I was 17. But aside from the academics I was really social and I had a whole variety of interests so I was involved in music. I was sporty, I was interested in drama. I volunteered at the homeless shelter at university.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “To study at Liverpool University, where she trained to become a midwife, and she enjoyed a 40-year plus career working for the NHS. And what I saw growing up was that my parents were both incredibly passionate about their careers and about their work. And that rubbed off on me and my siblings. Thinking about sort of what values my parents instilled in us, there was very much a strong emphasis on education, on discipline, on hard work, and also they instilled in us really strong social values. And I grew up very much in a community surrounded by friends, family, church. And I think that would have given me a really Strong sense of self confidence and self belief because I was encouraged to try out different things and I think that's had a very big influence.”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “My parents moved to the UK from Ghana to study around nineteen seventy when they were eighteen and my parents met probably about 10 years later and then got married and had us children. And going back to my father he is very academic, very bright and he came third in his A-levels in the whole of West Africa. The government of Ghana actually sponsored him to have a scholarship to come and study here in the UK and he studied at the Cambourne School of Mines and then Birmingham and then London and he's had a very distinguished career in the oil industry working in leadership roles at firms like Phillips and BP and Tuller Oil and then going back to my mother she moved to the UK”

    undated · Off The Agenda · Afua Kyei: Bank of England CFO, #1 Powerlist 2026 — Leadership, Inclusion & the AI Era | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source