Oxfam reaction to President Biden’s nomination of former Mastercard chief as World Bank president

In response to President Biden’s nomination of former MasterCard and Nestlé executive, Ajay Banga, to the position of World Bank president, Christian Donaldson, Oxfam International’s senior policy advisor on international financial institutions, made the following statement: 

“While Mr. Banga may have extensive experience on Wall Street, we had hoped that President Biden would use this opportunity to ditch the old gentlemen’s agreement of World Bank and IMF appointments in favor of a more transparent and merit-based global process. 

“The World Bank president will serve billions of people living in poverty, and the Bank needs a leader who can tackle the extreme and intertwined crises of economic inequality and climate change.   

“The World Bank is not a US bank, a commercial bank, or a private equity firm. For a job of this stature, we need more than a tap on the shoulder from President Biden. The world needs a transparent, open, merit-based process."