Ajay Banga

The move comes as the US increases pressure on the bank to put more emphasis on tackling climate change. Mr Banga led credit card giant Mastercard for more than ...

"There is a lot riding on this next phase of the World Bank's strategy," Ms Glassman said. While there is general consensus that the bank needs to evolve, "there is less agreement on how, and there's a worry about the balancing act that needs to be done," she added. It said female nominees were strongly encouraged.

MasterCard President and CEO Ajay Banga speaks at the US-Africa Business Forum in Washington, Aug. 5, 2014. Drew Angerer | Bloomberg | Getty Images. U.S. ...

For a job of this stature, we need more than a tap on the shoulder from President Biden." "Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history," Biden said in a statement. They all do vastly more to exacerbate inequality than to fight it," he said in a statement. "The World Bank is not a U.S. Banga's nomination is the first to be made public, but the bank will accept nominations from other member countries through March 29. Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and a former U.S.

Biden believes Banga has the right skill set to tackle challenges like climate change and poverty.

[had been calling for Malpass’s resignation](https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-banks-david-malpass-says-he-is-not-resigning-amid-criticism-of-his-climate-views-11663947377) since September last year, after he refrained from publicly acknowledging that burning fossil fuels is warming the planet. [stepping down on June 30](https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/02/15/world-bank-group-president-malpass-announces-intention-to-step-down) earlier this month. “Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history. Quotable: Biden believes Ajay Banga can tackle climate change and poverty as World Bank president Raised in India, Ajay has a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing developing countries and how the World Bank can deliver on its ambitious agenda to reduce poverty and expand prosperity.” — He has spent more than three decades building and managing successful, global companies that create jobs and bring investment to developing economies, and guiding organizations through periods of fundamental change. Less than a year on, he’ll be named president and CEO. The current leader, former president Donald Trump’s pick Malpass, said he’d be In its 77-year history, the US Banga was born in Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, on Nov. The bank’s board said on Wednesday (Feb. No other contenders seem to be in the race yet.

President Joe Biden has announced that he's nominating Ajay Banga, a former MasterCard executive, to serve as president of the World Bank.

The World Bank, a group of 187 nations, lends money to developing countries to help reduce poverty. Former US President Donald Trump appointed Malpass as World Bank chief in 2019 for a five-year period. During a panel, herefused to confirm during a climate panel whether he accepted the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels were dangerously warming the planet. Notably, the White House highlighted Banga’s “extensive experience” in creating partnerships to address climate change and financial inclusion,” something Biden pledged would be an important qualification for the next World Bank President. After an outpouring of criticism, many opponents called for his resignation. Banga has been the vice chairman at General Atlantic, a New York-based investment firm, since 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated business executive Ajay Banga to become president of the World Bank, lauding his experience forging ...

Homi Kharas discusses the nomination of Ajay Banga as the World Bank president and reviews the challenges and priorities ahead for the institution.

He will also be well-versed in the art of persuading finance ministers and other government officials in developing countries to open sensitive sectors to the private sector, a skill he will need if the vested interests in state-owned utilities and other government monopolies are to be overcome. Ceding ownership means losing control and exposing an institution to risks that derive from the actions of its partners. Banga’s job will partly be to encourage donors to provide more aid, and partly to make the case that existing aid can be more effectively used when channeled through multilateral funds, such as those provided by the World Bank. Long-standing calls for the multilaterals to improve efficiency and effectiveness by An added complication: Aid is now needed for many middle-income countries—those suffering loss and damage from climate-related natural disasters, those being encouraged to act in the global interest (for example, coal decommissioning, pandemic surveillance, and nature preservation and conservation), and those where a small amount of grants can catalyze action, like funds needed for project preparation and for legal and financial technical advice on specialized topics and for staffing new platforms. [advance equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world](https://www.mastercardcenter.org/about-us#our-mission).” The core ideas of equity and sustainability resonate with the discussion today about a new development narrative—the “ [global growth story of the 21st century](https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/the-global-growth-story-of-the-21st-century/)” as Professor Nick Stern and colleagues have called it. The founding World Bank agency—the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)—has successfully used leverage to finance its operations. The co-benefits to rich countries of faster and more sustainable development in developing countries are clear—less conflict and fragility, more trade, biodiversity protection, participation in pandemic surveillance, and of course, climate mitigation and disaster risk reduction. The politics come into even sharper focus when negotiating with governments on contributions to the International Development Association, the concessional lending arm of the World Bank, and other World Bank-managed trust funds, including the Climate Investment Funds. Its shareholders have encouraged it to scale up lending significantly, but opinion is divided as to how much can be done based on existing capital, and how much new capital will be required. Ajay Banga will need all his experience as CEO of Mastercard, a large financial services firm, to find the right balance; partly a technical challenge and partly a political challenge of persuading IBRD’s national government shareholders that he is able to deliver more to all clients—LICs, LMICs, and UMICs—without jeopardizing the financial health of the institution and without changing any one group by paying more attention to the other. One of the most urgent tasks facing the new president is to navigate complex financial waters.