Biden nominates ex-Mastercard CEO to lead World Bank

United States President Joe Biden said Thursday that Washington was nominating former Mastercard chief executive Ajay Banga to lead the World Bank, after its current chief David Malpass announced plans to step down early.

The development lender has just started accepting candidate nominations in a process set to run until March 29, with the bank saying women candidates would be “strongly” encouraged.

The president of the World Bank is typically American, while the head of the International Monetary Fund is customarily European.

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Banga, 63, is Indian-American and currently serves as vice chairman at equity firm General Atlantic. He was previously chief executive officer at Mastercard.

Banga has “critical experience mobilising public-private resources to tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change,” said Biden in a statement.