US nominates former Mastercard chief as World Bank president

Ajay Banga tapped by Joe Biden as institution shifts to greater focus on climate change

Joe Biden has nominated former Mastercard chief executive Ajay Banga as World Bank president, picking a Wall Street veteran raised in India to oversee the institution’s biggest mission change in a generation. Banga’s nomination, a week after sitting president David Malpass abruptly resigned, comes as the US and other shareholder nations seek to expand the bank’s development remit to include the fight against global warming. Biden said Banga had a grasp of the challenges facing developing countries and “critical experience” in mobilising private money to “tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change”.

Source:FT