The National Bank of Georgia reported that its Governor, Natia Turnava, participated in a World Bank discussion during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings focused on women’s participation in entrepreneurship and improving women’s access to finance. Turnava indicated Georgia’s readiness to join the World Bank programme aimed at expanding women entrepreneurs’ access to finance, a proposal the programme’s initiators supported. Participants discussed tools to widen access to banking services and funding, including credit guarantee schemes, access to electronic payment systems, and capital co-financing mechanisms. Turnava also highlighted that the National Bank of Georgia’s updated Corporate Governance Codes have increased gender quotas for supervisory boards in commercial banks from 20% to 33% in 2023 and to 40% by June 2025, with microbanks expected to reach a 40% quota by July 2026; she reported that women’s representation on supervisory boards has risen from 9% to 37% following these changes. She added that women hold 54% of senior and mid-level management roles at the central bank and that five of its nine Board members are women.
National Bank of Georgia 2025-10-19
National Bank of Georgia governor cites 40% supervisory board gender quotas and signals support for World Bank women entrepreneurs finance programme
The National Bank of Georgia's Governor, Natia Turnava, participated in a World Bank discussion at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings, focusing on enhancing women's access to finance and entrepreneurship. Turnava expressed Georgia's readiness to join a World Bank programme to support women entrepreneurs and highlighted increased gender quotas in the National Bank's Corporate Governance Codes, raising women's representation on supervisory boards from 9% to 37%. She also noted that women occupy 54% of senior and mid-level management roles at the central bank.