Staff Directory

Sophie Sirtaine

Global Director, Financial Services and CEO, CGAP, the World Bank Group

Sophie is the World Bank Group Global Director for Financial Services where she is responsible for financial resilience and integrity, capital market development, financial inclusion, and disaster risk finance. 

Sophie is also the CEO of CGAP, an international partnership, housed in the World Bank Group, dedicated to promoting inclusive financial ecosystems that enable a green, resilient, and equitable world for all.   

Sophie has dedicated her professional career to the development of inclusive and sustainable financial ecosystems around the world, with more than twenty years of experience at the World Bank, where she has held different positions, including Director of Strategy and Operations at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank and Director for the Caribbean region. Previously, Sophie worked as an expert in financial sector development and stability in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.  Among others, she led various Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs) in various countries in Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America, and she was the Manager who led the World Bank's response to banking crises in various countries of the European Union during the global financial crisis of 2008-2011. 

Prior to joining the World Bank, Sophie worked in JP Morgan's Financial Institutions (FIG) team on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in Europe, and for Halcrow Fox and Associates' Infrastructure team. Sophie holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE). 

By Sophie Sirtaine

Blog

From Access to Impact: It’s Time to Realize the Full Promise of Financial Inclusion

Part of CGAP’s new series on the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025, we draw from CGAP's and Accion's work to highlight six opportunities that need to be prioritized to unlock a golden opportunity for embracing growing digitization to shift financial inclusion from access to impact.
Blog

Banking on Progress: Why the Next Chapter of Financial Inclusion is so Important

New data from the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 reveals significant progress on financial inclusion. But while much has been achieved, challenges remain and new solutions are needed to help reach the last mile and to unlock the power of financial services for development.
Blog

Digital Payments Are Changing Women Entrepreneurs’ Lives—What’s Next?

CGAP’s Impact Pathfinder shows that uptake and use of digital payments can benefit women-owned micro and small enterprises by reducing barriers to entrepreneurship, enabling business growth, and promoting financial security.
Blog

Celebrating 30 Years of Collaborative Impact

CGAP is 30. We reflect on the progress made in advancing the lives of people living in poverty through financial inclusion over the past 30 years, and what comes next.
Research

Resilience for All: Why Inclusive Finance Can't Wait

The world faces urgent challenges as risks intensify and interconnect, amplifying vulnerabilities, especially for low-income populations and small and medium enterprises (MSEs). If left unaddressed, these vulnerabilities can create ripple effects with national, regional, and global consequences. This paper highlights the importance of inclusive finance as an indispensable component of resilience responses, and calls on everyone working on increasing resilience to leverage inclusive finance to enhance the reach, speed, and impact of their work.