Venetia Bell is the Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Gulf International Bank (GIB), and Head of Strategy at GIB Asset Management. Amongst other responsibilities, Venetia leads GIB’s drive to embed sustainability and responsible banking principles in everything it does. In 2021, she was instrumental in the successful close of GIB’s sustainability-linked loan, making GIB the first Bahrain-headquartered bank to close such a facility. She also led an award-winning multi-stakeholder initiative to enhance data and funnel private capital towards humanitarian and resilience projects.

Venetia is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a fellow of the Forward Institute, faculty for the Competent Boards Programme, and an alumna of the Mentoring Foundation. She is a Chartered Governance Professional, a designated Climate Competent Director, a Certified Investment Fund Director, and the Chair of Trustees of several charities.

Prior to GIB, she had several roles at the Bank of England, and has published a range of policy-focused research. Venetia graduated with an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, an MA degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge UK, and the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD, France.