Who is Ajay Banga, the next president of the World Bank?
- The Indian-born US executive – hailed by some as the ‘face of change’ at the global lender – has big plans for meeting the challenge of climate change
- Hailing from a Sikh family in the Indian city of Pune, former Mastercard CEO Banga is the first World Bank president from South Asia
Ajay Banga, confirmed Wednesday as the World Bank’s next president, is an Indian-born American executive who has been hailed by media in his birth country as the global development lender’s “face of change”.
His leadership for a five-year term comes as the bank pivots to face climate change, a crucial transition that the former Mastercard chief sees as closely tied to vanquishing inequality – and he has big plans for the private sector’s role in that task.
Banga, the first World Bank president from South Asia, takes over on June 2 from outgoing president David Malpass, who is stepping down early from a presidency clouded by questions over his climate stance.
Born into a Sikh family in the Indian city of Pune, in the state of Maharashtra, Banga is a naturalised US citizen.
The 63-year-old grew up in different parts of the country due to his father’s job as an army officer, before starting out at the Indian subsidiary of Nestle in the early 1980s.
He went on to have a successful business career in India, and later relocated to the United States.