NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

David Porteous is the CEO of BFA, a consulting firm based in Boston. He has undertaken consultancy assignments in the areas of financial strategy and policy for a wide range of clients including DFID, the World Bank, CGAP and various banking and telco groups. Prior to relocating to Boston in 2004, he was active in executive leadership roles in the development finance sector of South Africa with private and public financial institutions as well as FinMark Trust, an NGO involved in promoting financial inclusion policies and projects, and a public-private partnership which sought to promote low-income housing securitization. He has written several books, including “Banking on Change,” which chronicles and analyzes changes in the retail financial sector of South Africa in the decade following democracy. He earned a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Cape Town, a master of philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge and a doctorate in economics from Yale University.