Within the framework of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in the United States, the Governor of the National Bank of Georgia, Natia Turnava, took part in a discussion organized by the World Bank that brought together women leaders of central banks and finance ministers from various countries.

The meeting was also attended by Ekaterine Guntsadze, Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia.

During the discussion, participants reviewed the challenges and future priorities related to women’s participation in entrepreneurship. They exchanged views on enhancing women’s access to banking services and finance, including through credit guarantee schemes, access to electronic payment systems, and capital co-financing mechanisms.

The discussion also touched upon the World Bank’s program to improve women entrepreneurs’ access to finance. Natia Turnava expressed Georgia’s readiness to join this initiative and to cooperate actively within its framework — a proposal that was met with the support of the program’s initiators.

In her remarks, Natia Turnava highlighted that the National Bank of Georgia has taken concrete steps to promote gender equality in financial sector governance. Through the updated Corporate Governance Codes, gender quotas for supervisory boards have been increased for both commercial banks and microbanks.

“We introduced a 20% quota for commercial banks, which was raised to 33% in 2023 and reached 40% by June 2025. For microbanks, the goal is to achieve a 40% quota by July 2026. These measures aim to ensure that women are not only represented in leadership but also hold meaningful positions that enable them to take part in shaping key decisions and strategic directions within financial institutions,” — stated Natia Turnava.

She added that women currently hold 54% of senior and mid-level management positions at the National Bank of Georgia, and that five of the nine Board members are women.

According to Turnava, as a result of the updated corporate governance codes, women’s representation on supervisory boards has increased from just 9% to 37%.