Biden nominates former MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga to head World Bank
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated former MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga to become president of the World Bank, hailing his business experience in his native India and his commitment to mobilizing private funds to expand financial inclusion and help developing countries grapple with climate change.

The World Bank on Wednesday said it expects to select a new president by early May to replace David Malpass, who announced his resignation last week after months of controversy over his views on climate change and pressure by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for him to adopt "bolder and more imaginative" reforms.

Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and a former U.S. Treasury official, said: "I think the speed of the nomination, less than 48 hours after the WB board launched the process, reflects a desire to discourage any challengers and wrap it up quickly."

Biden's nomination of Banga, 63, now a U.S. citizen, all but assures he will assume a job that oversees billions of dollars of funding, putting someone with close ties to emerging markets at the helm of the bank as it races to better help developing countries address climate change and other pressing challenges.

"Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history," Biden said in a statement. "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."

Biden singled Banga's decades of experience building global companies and building public-private partnerships to tackle urgent challenges such as climate change, and said he had a proven track record working with global leaders.

Banga's work in India and other emerging markets, his "obsession" with expanding financial inclusion, and his deep knowledge of new technologies could help bridge the growing divide between rich countries and emerging markets, said Luis Alberto Moreno, who worked closely with Banga while serving as president of the Inter-American Development Bank.

"He can really be a force for change," Moreno said, noting that Banga enjoyed the trust of financial markets whose support was urgently needed to help raise the trillions of dollars needed to deal with global challenges.