Okey Umeano

Okey is Director of Financial Markets at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), where he plays a critical role in the Bank’s financial markets activities, dealing with instruments such as swaps, treasury bills, bonds, derivatives, and structured finance products, ensuring effective market operations to support Nigeria's economic Before returning to the CBN in September 2024, he was Chief Economist at Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria. In that role, he oversaw research, risk management, and international relations. Until October 2023, he was the capital market specialist advisor on the African Development Bank-sponsored West African Capital Markets Integration (WACMI) project. Prior to joining the SEC in 2016, he spent thirteen years in various roles at the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), including helping manage tens of billions of dollars in reserve assets, and macro prudential stress testing, helping ensure financial system stability. He set up and successfully managed a couple of small IT firms for five years before joining the CBN. Over the years, he has been a speaker and subject matter expert at various trainings, workshops, seminars, and conferences around the world. He holds a PhD in Finance, an MBA, an MSc. in Finance, is an alumnus of the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University and the Amsterdam Institute of Finance (AIF), holds the CFA charter, is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), and Financial Risk Manager (FRM). Okey writes a monthly column in AB AFR – ACCA’s member magazine and is a member of ACCA Nigeria’s National Advisory Committee. He is a member of the Economics & Statistics Committee of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Nigeria Advisory Committee of the ACCA, and also volunteers at the local society of investment professionals, CFA Society Nigeria.