Ajay Banga will take over as President of the World Bank on June 2, 2023, and serve a five-year term. This appointment was made by the World Bank’s Executive Directors.
On Wednesday, the World Bank announced that Ajay Banga would become its next president, making him the first Indian-American to hold this position. The World Bank has expressed its eagerness to collaborate with Banga as it takes on some of the most challenging issues that poor countries face in terms of development.
Ajay Banga has been chosen by the World Bank’s board of directors to lead the organisation as president for a five-year term commencing on June 2, 2023.
Banga, 63, was nominated to manage the World Bank by the United States in February, and Vice President Joe Biden said at the time that he was “well equipped” to do so at “this critical moment in history.”
According to a bank statement, the Board is excited to work with Mr. Banga on the World Bank Group Evolution process, which was discussed at the April 2023 Spring Meetings, and on all of the World Bank Group’s goals and initiatives to solve the toughest development problems facing poor countries.
Until recently, Banga was as Vice Chairman of General Atlantic, where he earned the Padma Shri in 2016. He has prior experience as president and CEO of Mastercard, a multinational corporation with around 24,000 workers.
He is the first person of Indian ancestry and Sikh faith to head either the IMF or World Bank.
The World Bank’s Executive Directors followed the shareholder-approved nomination process. It was said that any Bank member country national could be submitted by any Executive Director or Governor via an Executive Director as part of an open, merit-based, and transparent nomination process.
The Board of Directors then interviewed Banga extensively and performed a full due diligence investigation.
Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and President of the World Bank Group. The President also serves as the de facto head of the boards of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, the International Development Association, and the International Finance Corporation.
As a result of his upbringing in India, President Biden believes that Banga is well-equipped to lead the World Bank in achieving its lofty goals of ending extreme poverty and broadening prosperity around the world.
The anti-poverty lender is anticipated to be taken over by Banga at a time when the United States and Western nations are pushing for reforms to address a wide range of serious global concerns, including climate change.
The vice president said at the time of his nomination, “Ajay is uniquely qualified to lead the World Bank at this critical juncture in history.”
After more than three decades, Biden said, “He has spent more than three decades building and managing global companies that create jobs and attract investment to developing economies, as well as guiding organisations through periods of fundamental change.”
Harris, the vice president, has said that Banga will be a game-changer as World Bank president, helping the organisation tackle urgent global issues like climate change and achieving its primary development goals.
Banga has collaborated closely with Vice President Harris in his role as Co-Chairman of the Partnership for Central America.
Janet Yellen, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, praised Biden’s selection of Banga for this role.
“He (Banga) has the right leadership and management skills, experience living and working in emerging markets, and financial expertise to lead the World Bank at a critical time in its history, to deliver on its core development goals, and to evolve the Bank to meet global challenges such as climate change,” Yellen said.
Between the years of 2020 and 2022, Banga will preside as honorary chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce. In addition to leading Temasek, he serves as the head of Exor as its chairman. In 2021, he took a position as a consultant at BeyondNetZero, General Atlantic’s climate-focused investment fund.
He has a history of service on corporate boards, having previously sat on the boards of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods, and Dow Inc. He is Chairman Emeritus of the American India Foundation and a former trustee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum.
Banga is a member of President Obama’s Commission on Strengthening National Cybersecurity, Vice Chair of the Economic Club of New York, and co-founder of The Cyber Readiness Institute. Previously, he contributed to the President’s Trade Policy and Negotiations Advisory Committee.
The Foreign Policy Association Medal was awarded to him in 2012, the Ellis Island Medal of Honour and the Global Leadership Award from the Business Council for International Understanding were bestowed upon him in 2019, and the Distinguished Friends of Singapore Public Service Star will be bestowed upon him in 2021.