Ajay Banga, a former Mastercard CEO, was nominated by US President Biden on Thursday to head the World Bank.
When making the news, Biden highlighted Banga’s expertise in bringing together public and private resources to address pressing issues like climate change at a variety of organizations. He is the World Bank’s first nominee of Indian origin.
Other member countries’ nominations could be accepted until March 29th, and Banga’s selection has already been made public. Germany, a major shareholder, recently announced that a woman should be appointed to the position, despite the fact that the bank has never been led by a woman in its 77-year history.
Banga, who was born in Pune, graduated with a bachelor’s in economics from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi before completing an MBA at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. The 63-year-old worked for Citigroup in Malaysia and India after beginning his job with Nestle in India.
Banga has more than 30 years of corporate expertise and has held a number of positions at Mastercard as well as on the boards of Dow Inc., Kraft Foods, and the American Red Cross. After 12 years as CEO of Mastercard Inc. He is set to retire in December 2021. During his tenure, he set a goal of bringing 50 million micro and small businesses, as well as one billion people, into the digital economy by 2025.
When Banga became CEO of Mastercard, shortly after the 2008–2009 financial crisis, the payment processor’s sales tripled as online shopping became more and more popular all over the globe.
Banga, who is now a citizen of the US, is presently vice chair of the American private equity firm General Atlantic. Additionally, he serves as co-chair of the Alliance for Central America, where he works very closely with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to collect funds from the public, corporate, and nonprofit sectors for Northern Central America.
