Joe Biden nominates former MasterCard CEO Ajay Bangi for World Bank chief

President Biden on Thursday nominated business executive Ajay Banga as president of the World Bank, praising his expertise in forging public-private partnerships to address financial inclusion and climate change.

The World Bank on Wednesday said it expects to elect a new president by early May to replace David Malpass, who announced his resignation last week after months of wrangling over his views on climate change and pressure from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to made a bolder decision. and more imaginative” reforms.

Scott Morris, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development and former US Treasury Department official, said: “I think the speed of nominations less than 48 hours after the World Bank board kicked off the process reflects a desire to discourage any applicants and wrap up quickly.” .

The appointment of Bangui by the United States all but guarantees that he will take on the job that will control 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 positioned to lead the World Bank at this critical time in history,” Biden said in a statement. “He has spent more than three decades building and managing successful global companies that create jobs and investments in developing countries, and guide organizations through periods of fundamental change.”

Biden highlighted Bangui’s experience in pooling public and private resources to address pressing issues such as climate change, and said his experience of living in India gave him a unique insight into how the bank can achieve its twin goals of reducing poverty and boosting prosperity. .

The bank has historically been led by someone from the United States, its largest shareholder, while a European is in charge of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but emerging countries and emerging markets have pressed for more choice.

Bangui’s nomination is the first to be made public, but the bank will accept nominations from other member countries until March 29. Germany, another major shareholder, said this week that the position should be given to a woman as the bank has never been run by a woman. over its 77 year history.

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

Asked about Washington’s decision not to nominate a woman, the official said Banga has “personal convictions and an excellent track record that promotes diversity, fairness and inclusion in the work he does” and will bring that message to the bank.

Jeff Houser, who heads the progressive Revolving Door Project, demanded that Biden drop the appointment of a senior official from a “rapacious international private equity firm” who previously worked only in private sector firms.

“Neither private equity, nor MasterCard, nor Citigroup, nor PepsiCo, nor Nestlé, nor Dow contribute to the overall prosperity. All of them are doing far more to exacerbate inequality than to fight it,” he said in a statement.

Raised in India but now a US citizen, Banga, 63, is vice chairman of General Atlantic, a private equity firm that has invested more than $800 million in electric vehicle charging solutions, solar energy and sustainable agriculture, and is chairman emeritus. International Chamber. commerce.

He retired in December 2021 after 12 years at the helm of Mastercard, where he set the goal of engaging 1 billion people and 50 million micro and small businesses in the digital economy by 2025, and led work on climate, gender and sustainable agriculture. .

He worked closely with Vice President Kamala Harris as co-chair of the Partnership for Central America, which has mobilized over $4 billion in public, private and non-profit funds to expand economic opportunities in northern Central America.

Yellen said Bungie’s experience at MasterCard and his work in leveraging private equity in climate change solutions will help him achieve the bank’s goals of ending extreme poverty and expanding shared prosperity, as well as help develop the institution to better address climate change, prepare to future pandemics and pandemic mitigation. root causes and consequences of conflict and instability.

“Mr. Bangui’s experience in forging partnerships between the public sector, the private sector and non-profit organizations gives him a unique opportunity to help mobilize private capital and push for the reforms needed to meet our shared ambitions,” she said.

This will allow the World Bank to serve as a “multiplier for good” by catalyzing action by a wide range of players, she said, adding that the World Bank cannot meet the enormous needs of developing countries alone.