Response to the announcement that the United States has nominated Ajay Banga as President of the World Bank

Welcoming the announcement today that the United States has nominated Ajay Banga as President of the World Bank, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, said:

“This is a very good nomination for the President of the World Bank. Ajay Banga is someone who understands internationalism and the role of finance in a very deep way, including through his background and education in India, and his leadership of Mastercard over a long period. He has been a pioneer in financial inclusion, giving poor people access to finance. Under his leadership, Mastercard was a leader in setting targets for net zero and the first such institution to gain approval from the Science-Based Targets initiative. He is also on the advisory board of Beyond Net Zero, a climate finance fund. Thus, Ajay Banga is someone who is deeply committed to development, sustainability, and inclusion.

“The World Bank must now greatly increase the scale of its activities given the urgency of the challenges of climate and development, and it must understand and show that they must be tackled together. Increasing the partnership with the private sector and greatly increasing the multipliers in the private sector associated with World Bank activities will be vital. The World Bank must change quickly and Ajay Banga will be a good leader. He is very well placed to lead the transition to the new World Bank. Given the urgency of action and reform, it is good that the United States has acted quickly to announce its nomination for President of the World Bank.”