Reacting to a spate of nations adopting negative interest rates—essentially charging depositors for parking their money—World Bank Vice President and Treasurer Arunma Oteh (MBA 1990) told Bloomberg News that the policy could weaken banks.

“We still have a global economy that is very fragile,” Oteh said in an interview in Tokyo Wednesday. “What you find where you have had the expansionary monetary policy that has been useful, what you’ve also found is that it has led to maybe potential weaknesses in banks,” according to Oteh, who said that was her personal view.

The piece cites Japan, Denmark, and the European Central Bank as lenders who have already adopted negative rates. Nobuyuki Hirano, president of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., echoes Oteh’s warning in the article, arguing that the policy will “gradually undermine Japanese banks’ financial strength.”

Oteh joined the World Bank in September 2015, previously serving a five-year term as director-general of Nigeria’s Security and Exchange Commission from 2011 to 2015. An alumni profile of her during that stint details her transformative efforts at the Commission:

Oteh's bold decisions have cleaned up the Nigerian capital markets and her zero tolerance for improper acts earned her the nickname "Iron Lady." The reform efforts she champions have been hugely successful, as the country’s stock market has almost tripled in size. A vibrant domestic fixed-income market is emerging, new products have been introduced, new trading platforms have been launched, institutions participating in the market have been strengthened, and there is greater public awareness of the critical role capital markets play.

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