Accion Welcomes Two New Board Members

Elizabeth McCaul and Michael Miebach to Join Pioneering Nonprofit

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Jun 22, 2015, 06:00 ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial inclusion pioneer Accion announced today that it has elected two new members to its board of directors: Elizabeth McCaul, Partner-in-Charge, New York Office Promontory Financial Group, LLC, and Chief Executive Officer, Promontory Europe; and Michael Miebach, President of Middle East and Africa, MasterCard.

"We're delighted to have Elizabeth and Michael join our board and commit their extraordinary insight, experience and skills in helping Accion foster global financial inclusion," said Accion Board Chair Diana Taylor. "Around the world, two billion adults live in poverty and lack access to formal financial services. Michael and Elizabeth will help guide Accion as we address that critical issue."

Ms. McCaul provides clients in the United States and Europe with advice and services on a broad range of financial markets and regulatory areas including assistance with strategy, corporate governance, risk management, balance sheet analysis, valuation and compliance. Prior to joining Promontory, she served as the Superintendent of Banks of the State of New York, where she was responsible for supervision of some of the world's largest institutions and most of the foreign banks operating in the United States, as well as community banks, mortgage companies, and the overseas banking activities of investment banks and insurance companies.

Ms. McCaul is well recognized for her safety, soundness, and management credentials. As Superintendent, she introduced capital markets specialists to the examination teams, established targeted hedge fund reviews, opened a Tokyo office, and helped banks and securities firms comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the USA PATRIOT Act. After the 9/11 attacks, she worked with banks, securities firms, and the Federal Reserve to get the U.S. markets reopened and functioning properly.

She also served as the chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and as a member of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. From 1985 to 1995, she worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

Mr. Miebach is responsible for driving the evolution of payments across the Middle East and Africa (MEA). At MasterCard, he leads some of the region's most innovative financial inclusion initiatives. By leveraging the organization's expertise and by harnessing the power of its technology, MasterCard aims to reach millions of unbanked and underbanked citizens in MEA and give them an opportunity to participate in the global economy. Mr. Miebach is instrumental in driving this vision and plays a key role in realizing the company's global commitment to provide 500 million people worldwide with access to formal financial services by 2020.

He joined MasterCard in 2010 from Barclays Bank PLC, where he was the managing director for Middle East and North Africa, responsible for the bank's corporate, commercial and consumer business in the region. He has also served as a non-executive director of Barclays Bank of Botswana Ltd., and represented Barclays as a member of the board of directors in Egypt, Tanzania and Botswana.

Prior to Barclays, Mr. Miebach held several senior-level positions for more than 13 years at Citibank in Germany, Austria, UK and Turkey. His experience includes cards and consumer finance, corporate and investment banking, operations and financial control.

About Accion
Accion is a global nonprofit dedicated to building a financially inclusive world with economic opportunity for all, by giving people the financial tools they need to improve their lives. We are building the next generation of top-tier microfinance institutions, and over the last 50 years have helped create 64 such institutions in 32 countries on four continents that today reach millions of clients. Our impact investing initiatives are pushing beyond microfinance to catalyze more than 20 innovative start-ups dedicated to improving the efficiency, reach and scope of financial services for the poor. And our Center for Financial Inclusion is helping to build a stronger industry with high standards. Currently, our work spans nearly two dozen countries, including the U.S., where we are the nation's largest nonprofit microfinance network. For further information, visit www.accion.org.

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