The African Development Bank has appointed Max Magor Ndiaye as Senior Director of Syndications, the Africa Investment Forum and Client Solutions, effective 12th June 2024.
Ndiaye, an American national, is a seasoned structured finance, risk management and capital markets professional with over 22 years of international public and private sector experience. He is the current substantive Director of the Bank's Syndication and Client Solutions Department.
As Senior Director for the Africa Investment Forum, Ndiaye will oversee the multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary, partnership platform, which plays a crucial role in advancing strategic projects in Africa to bankable stages, raising and leveraging capital at scale, and accelerating deals to financial closure.
In this role, he will collaborate closely with the Africa Investment Forum Coordination Group, which includes the Bank's vice presidents and other senior managers. They will consult with other Africa Investment Forum founding partners and the Bank's Board of Directors to guide the platform towards its next development phase.
Ndiaye leads the Bank's department, spearheading loan syndication, co-financing, and client solutions for numerous transformative projects across Africa. He is also at the forefront of developing and implementing a variety of innovative financial products, mainstreaming balance sheet optimization as a key Bank strategy, and structuring a wide array of initiatives and projects across diverse sectors.
Ndiaye successfully orchestrated a $2 billion balance sheet optimization transaction with the UK government and London-based private insurers, unlocking significant additional lending capacity for the Bank in climate and green growth. He also played a pivotal role in the design and structuring of a $1 billion Synthetic Securitization transaction in 2018, which attracted first-time institutional investors to Africa and set a precedent for multilateral development banks. He led the syndication of various projects across Africa, totaling over $2.5 billion, and negotiated and closed a co-financing partnership with Japan worth $8 billion over the past five years.
Ndiaye has been instrumental in developing the structuring and design of the Bank's inaugural Hybrid Capital issuance, the revision of the Bank's Guarantee Policy, the introduction of the Bank's Balance Sheet Optimization Framework, the development of the Co-Guarantee platform, and the potential redirection of the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights through multilateral development banks.
Ndiaye joined the Bank in 2009 as a Senior Treasury Risk Officer and later served as Principal Financial Analyst in the Treasury Department and Manager of the Financial Technical Services Division. Before his tenure at the Bank, he worked at the International Finance Corporation's Treasury Liquid Asset Management Department and at Wachovia Bank's foreign exchange and derivatives trading desk.
Ndiaye holds a master's degree in finance and Capital Markets from Ecole Superieure de Gestion de Paris and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA.
Commenting on his appointment, Ndiaye said: "I am very grateful to President Adesina for this appointment, and the confidence and trust bestowed upon me. The Africa Investment Forum is critical for mobilizing more private sector financing into Africa, in line with the global call for multilateral development banks to do more to attract private sector investments. I am fully committed to working with all stakeholders, including the Board of Directors, senior management and staff of the African Development Bank, AIF's institutional partners, governments, and the private sector within and outside of Africa, to effectively deliver on the Forum's mandate to mobilize more private sector investments to Africa and assure its long-term sustainability."
African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said: "Max is a well-respected leader and expert in finance and investments with a remarkable record on syndications to mobilize private and public sector financing. His adeptness in managing people, fostering relationships, effectiveness in working with public and private sector leaders, and ability to deliver impactful results, will be helpful in this role. He will work with Africa Investment Forum partners and African Development Bank's board of directors and senior management to expand the platform to bring on board more multilateral financial institutions and position it for greater effectiveness and sustainability to do more for Africa."
