Bank of England chief Afua Kyei tops 2026 Powerlist as UK’s most influential black person

Afua Kyei, the Bank of England’s chief financial officer, has been named the UK’s most influential black person.

The 43-year-old is one of the UK’s most senior finance leaders, in charge of the financial governance of the Bank’s £1 trillion balance sheet and funding reforms.

The BoE executive director topped the 2026 Powerlist, which recognises the most powerful people of African, African Caribbean, and African American heritage in the UK.

Other influential names include former footballer Ian Wright, who’s new to the list, make-up artist Dame Pat McGrath and actor Idris Elba.

Kyei, who was recruited by the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in his former role as the governor of the Bank of England, said topping the list was “incredibly humbling”.

The mum-of-four said growing up she saw obvious differences in the workplace.

She said: “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 studied chemistry at Oxford University and was also awarded a junior research fellowship by Princeton University in organic chemistry.

During the global financial crisis, she was an investment banker before joining Barclays Bank where she was the Chief Financial Officer for Mortgages.

She joined the Bank of England in 2019 and is at the core of the Bank’s leadership and decision making.

She said her parents, who moved to the UK from Ghana to go to university at 18, have been her biggest role models.

“My mother came to Liverpool, trained to become a midwife and enjoyed a 40-year plus career working for the NHS.

“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,” she added.

Kyei hopes to inspire more young people to consider banking as a career.

“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”.

Kyei takes the place of tech CEO Dean Forbes at the head of the list.

The annual Powerlist was first published in 2007, with its aim to provide role models for young black people, according to Powerful Media.

Powerlist founder Michael Eboda said he thought they would run out of people after three years, but the opposite has happened.

“Over the last 20 years we’ve seen more influencers from the private sector as opposed to the public sector and that’s a great story of success in Britain”.