Joe Biden nominates Indian-American Ajay Banga to head World Bank

Washington: US President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated Indian-American business executive Ajay Banga to become president of the World Bank, lauding his experience forging public-private partnerships to address financial inclusion and climate change.

The World Bank on Wednesday said it expects to select a new president by early May to replace David Malpass, who announced his resignation last week.

Banga's nomination by the United States all but assures he will assume a job that oversees billions of dollars of funding as the institution embarks on a major series of reforms to better respond to climate change and other pressing challenges facing developing countries.

“Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history," Biden said in a statement. "He has spent more than three decades building and managing successful, global companies that create jobs and bring investment to developing economies, and guiding organisations through periods of fundamental change."

Biden also singled out Banga's experience mobilizing public-private resources to tackle urgent challenges such as climate change at a range of organisations.

The bank has historically been headed by someone from the United States, its largest shareholder, while a European heads the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but developing countries and emerging markets have pushed to widen those choices.

Banga's nomination is the first to be made public, but the bank will accept nominations from other member countries through March 29. Germany, another major shareholder, this week said the job should go to a woman since the bank has never been headed by a woman in its 77-year history.

A US administration official said they did not know if other countries would nominate candidates for the post.

Raised in India but now a US citizen, Banga currently serves as vice chair of General Atlantic, a US private equity firm. He retired in December 2021 after 12 years at the helm of Mastercard Inc, where he set a target of bringing 1 billion people and 50 million micro- and small businesses into the digital economy by 2025.

He also serves as co-chair of the Partnership for Central America, where he worked closely with US Vice President Kamala Harris to mobilize public, private and non-profit resources for Northern Central America.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Banga's experience at Mastercard and his work to deploy private capital into climate solutions would help him achieve the World Bank’s dual objectives of eliminating extreme poverty and expanding shared prosperity.

She said Banga understood that those objectives were deeply intertwined with addressing climate change, preparing for and preventing future pandemics, and mitigating the root causes and consequences of conflict and fragility.

"Mr Banga’s track record of forging partnerships between the public sector, private sector, and non-profits uniquely equips him to help mobilize the private capital and press for the reforms needed to meet our shared ambitions," she said.

That would enable the World Bank to serve "as a force multiplier for good" by catalyzing action from the wide range of players, she said, adding that the World Bank could not meet the massive needs on its own.