Lila Rashid is currently engaged in a research project titled “Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion in Bangladesh” as Financial Inclusion Specialist that is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She is a retired Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country. During her career, she worked in different departments of the bank in various capacities. Her notable contributions include formulating policies for the microfinance sector and helping the government establish Microcredit Regulatory Authority (the MRA). She was also the head of Payment System Department and SME Department of Bangladesh Bank for a significant amount of time.
Lila completed her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India and holds an MBA from the University of New Orleans, USA. Her first master degree was awarded by the University of Dhaka in physics. Her professional interest is working on financial inclusion that broadly includes DFS, MFS, SME, and microfinance.
Along with numerous articles and journal papers, she also published two books from Bangladesh entitled; a) Microfinance Regulations for Development: Global Experiences, and b) Institutionalising Microfinance in Bangladesh: Players, Games and Outcomes.