Washington: US President Joe Biden on Thursday said that former Mastercard Chief Executive Ajay Banga (63)  as he is nominating the Chief of World Bank. David Malpass present Chief announced to step down early.

The development lender has just started accepting candidate nominations in a process set to run until March 29^th, with the bank saying that women candidates would be strongly encouraged. The President of the World Bank is typically American, while the leader of the International Monetary Fund is customarily European.

The Indian-American Ajay Banga is currently serving as Vice Chairman at equity firm General Atlantic. He was previously worked as Chief Executive at Mastercard. Biden in a statement said that Banga has critical experience mobilizing public-private resources to tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change.

World Bank President Malpass who was nominated to the post by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump in 2019, said he would step down nearly a year early, ending a tenure that was clouded by questions over his climate stance. His term would originally have ended in 2024. The United States is the World Bank’s largest shareholder.