Ajay Banga was on Wednesday appointed as the subsequent President of the World Bank, changing into the first-ever Indian-American to move the worldwide monetary establishment which mentioned it appears to be like ahead to working with him at a time when it is tackling the hardest improvement challenges dealing with creating international locations.

“The Executive Directors of the World Bank today selected Ajay Banga as President of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023,” the financial institution mentioned in a press assertion.

In February, President Joe Biden introduced that the US could be nominating Banga, 63, to guide the World Bank as a result of he’s “well equipped” to guide the worldwide establishment at “this critical moment in history.”

The Board appears to be like ahead to working with Mr. Banga on the World Bank Group Evolution course of, as mentioned on the April 2023 Spring Meetings, and on all of the World Bank Group’s ambitions and efforts geared toward tackling the hardest improvement challenges dealing with creating international locations,” the bank statement added.

Banga, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016, most recently served as Vice Chairman at General Atlantic. Previously, he was President and CEO of Mastercard, a global organisation with nearly 24,000 employees.

He is the first-ever Indian-American and Sikh-American to head either of the two top international financial institutions: the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

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The World Bank Executive Directors followed the selection process agreed by shareholders in 2011. The process included an open, merit-based, and transparent nomination where any national of the Bank’s membership could be proposed by any Executive Director or Governor through an Executive Director, the statement said.

This was then followed by thorough due diligence and a comprehensive interview of Banga by the Executive Directors, it added.

The President of the World Bank Group is also the Chair of the Board of the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The President is also ex officio chair of the Board of Directors of the International Development Association, International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and of the Administrative Council of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Raised in India, Banga 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, President Biden had said.

Banga is expected to take over the reins of the anti-poverty lender at a crucial time, with the US and Western nations pitching for reforms to focus on addressing a slew of wide-ranging global issues like climate change.

“Ajay is uniquely geared up to guide the World Bank at this crucial second in historical past,” President Biden said in a statement at the time of his nomination.

“He has spent greater than three many years constructing and managing profitable, world firms that create jobs and produce funding to creating economies, and guiding organisations by intervals of elementary change,” Biden said.

Vice President Harris said Banga will be a transformative World bank President as the institution works to deliver on its core development goals and address pressing global challenges, including climate change.

Banga has worked closely with Vice President Harris as the Co-Chair of the Partnership for Central America.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had applauded Biden for nominating Banga for this position.

“He (Banga) has the fitting management and administration expertise, expertise residing and dealing in rising markets, and monetary experience to guide the World Bank at a crucial second in its historical past, ship on its core improvement objectives, and evolve the Bank to satisfy world challenges like local weather change,” Yellen mentioned.

Banga is the honorary chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, serving as chairman from 2020-2022. He can also be chairman of Exor and impartial director at Temasek. He grew to become an advisor to General Atlantic’s climate-focused fund, BeyondNetZero, at its inception in 2021.

He beforehand served on the Boards of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods and Dow Inc. He is a member of the Trilateral Commission, a founding trustee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, a former member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and Chairman Emeritus of the American India Foundation.

Banga is a co-founder of The Cyber Readiness Institute, Vice Chair of the Economic Club of New York and served as a member of President Barack Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. He is a previous member of the US President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

He was awarded the Foreign Policy Association Medal in 2012, the Ellis Island Medal of Honour and the Business Council for International Understanding’s Global Leadership Award in 2019, and the Distinguished Friends of Singapore Public Service Star in 2021.