Jessica Schnabel

Jessica Schnabel is the Global Head of IFC’s Banking on Women business. With over 25 years of experience in emerging markets finance, she is responsible for building IFC's portfolio with financial institutions in emerging markets, to radically scale-up financial services for women and women-owned SMEs. In this role, she has led her team to invest over US$4.6 billion and provide technical expertise to over 150 financial institutions in 76 emerging market countries to build profitable financial solutions for women SME customers. Building partnerships with public and private-sector organizations, IFC’s Banking on Women business has been at the forefront of innovations such as the Banking on Women-Global Trade Finance Program and the Gender Bond, using action-oriented data analytics and achieving tangible financial and development results. Her prior experience focused on investment and advisory services including a range of debt, equity, and balance sheet risk-management investments in commercial banks, private equity funds, and asset finance companies in emerging markets. Ms. Schnabel holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree from the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University