Two weeks ago, outside the Miami Beach Convention Center at Sibos, sudden tropical downpours drenched delegates rushing between sessions. This week, the setting changed to the IMF World Bank Annual Meeting at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok. Yet, the physical reality remained identical. Outside, heavy monsoon showers swept across the city. Inside, the air conditioning hummed relentlessly, shielding financial leaders from the tropical humidity.

The atmosphere inside the plenary halls this week was defined by a stark warning from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Global growth sits at 3.1%, constrained by rising energy costs and tightening financial conditions. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has made it clear that public buffers are depleted. Higher-for-longer yields are driving up debt service costs across emerging markets, and capital is becoming scarce.

Away from these tense plenary debates, the tone inside the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) delegation suite was strictly business-like. There, the focus was on capital deployment, balance sheet discipline and private sector execution.

Few leaders embody this intersection between Wall Street pragmatism and multilateral impact better than Gregory L Guyett, first vice president of the EBRD. Having spent decades running global markets and corporate banking at institutions like HSBC, Guyett speaks the language of front-office risk, yield and liquidity. Yet, his mandate today centres on deploying capital into complex operating environments, ranging from wartime Ukraine to the logistics corridors of Central Asia.

As global private capital hesitates amidst high interest rates and sovereign risks, critics frequently question whether multilateral development banks move quickly enough, or whether their strict processes crowd out private returns.

In an exclusive interview in Bangkok, Guyett addressed these misperceptions directly. He explains why the EBRD functions much like a commercial investment bank, how the institution takes direct equity risks in Ukraine, and why physical infrastructure alone cannot save global trade corridors without deep policy reform.

IntelliNews: Greg, you spent years at HSBC leading global markets before joining the EBRD. Commercial banks move quickly to capture returns. Do rigid rules and slow processes inside development banks frustrate your commercial instincts, and are traditional development bankers moving too slowly for private investors?"

Gregory Guyett: MDBs, DFIs and commercial banks all operate within established processes. Since the global financial crisis, MDBs are not necessarily more bureaucratic than commercial banks, and the EBRD’s procedures reflect its specific mandate and business model. 

One misconception about international development institutions is that they operate in a completely different world from the private sector. In fact, what has struck me since joining the EBRD is not how different the mindset is, but how similar it is. We still have to assess risk, allocate capital and make decisions in a rapidly changing environment. Successful investing here requires the same focus on risk management, credit discipline, client relationships and execution excellence that underpins any successful financial institution

What sets the EBRD apart is both what we do and how we do it:.

• We were created to advance the private sector, with a unique transition mandate to help former communist economies shift from state control to private enterprise. At least 75% of our operations are in the private sector, with significant support for SMEs and MSMEs — the backbone of local economies and a major source of jobs. Being headquartered in London also gives us access to talent from financial services and the wider private sector. Many of our staff come from commercial finance backgrounds.
• Most importantly, we seek to maximise impact while earning a financial return. Private investors want opportunities that are bankable and scalable. Our role is often to help create those opportunities, particularly in markets where risks are higher and private capital is not yet willing to go alone. When we do that successfully, private investment follows.

IntelliNews: You recently noted that the EBRD has finite resources and must prioritise its work. Critics argue that rationing capital forces development banks to choose safer, larger projects in middle-income markets. Is the EBRD scaling back its riskier projects just to protect its top credit rating?

Guyett: No. We safeguard our credit rating through disciplined underwriting and a strong balance sheet. Generating returns protects our capital base and enables us to finance more high-impact projects.

We are prioritising the least advanced economies, including our new countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, while continuing to invest in Ukraine and provide equity at the riskiest end of the capital structure.

Our foremost priority remains steadfast support for Ukraine. Since the war began, we have deployed more than €11bn. Our immediate focus is helping the country prepare for winter and enabling clients to maintain operations amid a deteriorating security and economic environment.

We also want to deploy more capital through equity, which is both highly additional and the riskiest part of the capital structure. As a countercyclical investor, we often achieve our strongest returns from investments made during difficult periods. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, for example, we invested $1bn in equity in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, mobilising a further $5bn-6bn while generating good returns. We are also investing in renewable-energy platforms to build more resilient, secure and affordable energy systems.

IntelliNews: Commercial lenders often view development bank guarantees as cheap insurance rather than true shared risk. When private banks pass their highest risks onto the EBRD, do public funds end up subsidising private profits without creating genuine local economic growth?

Guyett: Every project we do goes in some way to supporting the economic transition of the countries where we work – we have a very rigorous set of tests to examine whether it achieves our transition goals.

Our guarantees and risk-sharing instruments are designed to help unlock finance in markets, sectors and client segments where market constraints exist. That could mean supporting SMEs, financing the green transition, extending maturities, or helping maintain the flow of credit during periods of economic stress. It is to use our balance sheet to mobilise private capital and support economic development that would otherwise be harder to achieve. We have a very rigorous set of tests to examine whether it achieves our transition goals. We publish these Transition Qualities so everyone can see what drives our choices.

IntelliNews: Global banks want development banks to take on more financial risk. Are private investors actually putting money into these projects today, or do they still expect the EBRD to cover their losses if things go wrong?

Guyett: Private investors do not expect us to cover their losses. They partner with us because our rigorous due diligence, high standards and on-the-ground policy dialogue help deliver high-quality projects. We also invest equity in many projects, taking risk at the most junior part of the capital structure. This generates significant impact and helps mobilise additional private capital.

IntelliNews: The Middle Corridor is vital for trade between Asia and Europe, but port delays and red tape are holding it back. Is private money moving fast enough into railways and ports in Central Asia, or are government delays still stopping big investments?

Guyett: The Middle Corridor is attracting significantly greater interest from both investors and policymakers. Political conditions are complex worldwide, yet these economies have shown a strong capacity to adapt. In those regions, initiatives such as TRIPP in the Caucasus and the Central Asia-China corridors are gaining momentum. We expect these routes to play an increasingly important role in trade, energy and data flows, providing an alternative to traditional routes through the Gulf region. The biggest challenge is often not the availability of capital, but the speed of implementation. That said, infrastructure investment alone is not enough. To fully realise the Corridor's potential, physical investments need to be accompanied by reforms that improve border crossings, streamline customs procedures and strengthen coordination across countries. Private investors are willing to commit capital when there is a clear pipeline of projects, a predictable regulatory environment and efficient cross-border cooperation. So, I would say the challenge today is not simply mobilising more money. It is ensuring that investments, policy reforms and regional coordination move forward together. 

IntelliNews: Western and non-Western lenders often fund the same big projects. Do strict Western rules on environmental and social standards create conflict with non-Western partners, and how does the EBRD solve this on the ground?

Guyett: Our private-sector clients are willing to meet stringent environmental and social standards because doing so helps them attract Western investors. In sectors such as mining, we work actively to ensure that projects meet the highest standards. Ultimately, clients and governments value our involvement because projects compete globally for the same pool of capital, and EBRD participation provides a recognised stamp of approval.

The conflicts in Ukraine and Iran have reinforced a broader lesson: countries cannot pursue the green transition without also ensuring energy security, particularly in the least advanced economies, where ‘you can’t be green while you are in the red’. Our objective is to support energy that is affordable, clean, resilient and sustainable. We back the energy systems of the future, combining increasingly competitive renewables with battery and hydropower storage, as well as nuclear power, to provide reliable, low-carbon baseload capacity.