By Eniola Amadu
Ghanaian-born Bank of England’s Chief Financial Officer, Afua Kyei has been named the UK’s most influential Black person for 2026.
Kyei, 43, in charge of the financial governance of the Bank’s £1 trillion balance sheet and funding reforms is one of the UK’s most senior finance leaders.
The powerlist, which recognises the most powerful people of African, African Caribbean, and African American heritage in the UK had the Bank of England(BoE) executive director at its peak for 2026.
Other influential names in the powerlist are: former footballer Ian Wright, make-up artist Dame Pat McGrath and actor Idris Elba.
The mother of four was employed by Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney who was the past governor of the Bank of England.
According to Kyei, she revealed that being at the apex of the list was “incredibly humbling”.
She revealed that growing up, she rarely saw women take up leadership positions.
“I didn’t see so many women in big leadership roles who had families and I know that there are lots of women who think that they need to choose between work and having a family.
“What I love about the Bank of England is that we really support working families and working parents,” Kyei added.
She studied chemistry at Oxford University with an award of a junior research fellowship in organic chemistry by Princeton University.
She revealed her parents have been her biggest role models. They moved from Ghana to the UK for her to be in the university at 18.
“My mother came to Liverpool, trained to become a midwife and enjoyed a 40-year plus career working for the NHS.”
She added that “My father has enjoyed a long career in the oil industry. I saw them juggling work and home. They instilled really strong values in us”.
In her quest to encourage young people to ponder on banking as a career, she said “You don’t need to be a mathematician, you don’t need to be an accountant and you don’t need to be an economist. What we’re looking for is fresh perspectives and we want the best people”.
Before joining Barclays Bank where she was the Chief Financial Officer for Mortgages, Kyei was an investment banker.
In 2019, she joined the Bank of England at the centre of the Bank’s leadership and decision-making process.
