Washington: Indian-American business leader Ajay Banga has been appointed as the President of the World Bank for a five-year term. He is the first Indian-born nominee to the World Bank president's role. He is expected to start the new job in early June, reports said.
Banga, 63, was nominated for the office by US President Joe Biden in late February. He was the only contender to replace departing World Bank chief David Malpass. According to reports, Banga had impressed World Bank shareholders in recent weeks as a "true change maker" who will help accelerate reforms at the global development bank. It already loans out hundreds of billions of dollars to developing countries but is working to increase its lending to help them address global challenges such as climate change.
Banga, a US citizen since 2007, currently serves as vice chair of General Atlantic, a private equity company. He also serves as co-chair of the Partnership for Central America, where he worked closely with US Vice President Kamala Harris to mobilise public, private and non-profit resources for Northern Central America.
He is a former CEO of Mastercard. 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.
While making the pick, Biden had singled out Banga's experience in mobilising public-private resources to tackle urgent challenges such as climate change at a range of organisations.
Born in Pune, Banga completed his bachelor's degree in economics from Delhi's St. Stephen's College before pursuing an MBA degree from IIM Ahmedabad. He began his career with Nestle in India and went on to work with the Citigroup in India and Malaysia.
Banga has more than 30 years of business experience, having served in various roles at Mastercard and the boards of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods and Dow Inc. He is also a member of the Trilateral Commission, a founding trustee of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, a former member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and Chairman Emeritus of the American India Foundation.