Simon Walley joined the World Bank in 2006 – his role has been varied covering a range of countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. In particular he has worked on the development of secondary mortgage markets through the creation of liquidity facilities, mortgage subsidy schemes and covered bond legislation.

Prior to his move to Washington, Simon spent 3 years in Brussels working for the European Mortgage Federation as the Deputy Secretary General. He was responsible for promoting the interest of mortgage lenders at the European level and worked on issues such as the European regulatory framework for mortgages under Basel II. He has also had industry experience with 3 years working as an economist for the Nationwide Building Society in UK where he worked on competitor analysis, strategic planning and market forecasting. This followed on from 4 years spent working as a banking regulator for the Bank of England and later the Financial Services Authority.