Ajay Banka is finally the new president of the World Bank

Ajay Banga sworn in as the new president of the World Bank. The 63-year-old former CEO of Mastercard was elected to a five-year term by the company’s executive directors on Wednesday. It will begin in early June.

Banga succeeds David Malpass, who announced his unexpected departure in February after more than four years in his tenure. It is not clear why he left the world’s largest organization for development cooperation early. Malpass only indicated that he wanted to take on “new challenges”.

Malpass was nominated by then US President Donald Trump. Last fall, he came under fire from the White House after refusing to say he supported the scientific consensus on climate change. He later apologized for this.

Banka is the only candidate. Traditionally, the US decides who is the CEO of the World Bank. The sister organization IMF is led by a European in the same tradition.

But the appointment of an Indian as an American also drew criticism from international activist groups. They were not happy to have someone from Wall Street head up a company whose main goal was to eradicate poverty. “Nothing in Banka’s application inspires hope that he will turn the World Bank away from neo-colonialism,” said Jeff Houser, director of the Revolving Door Project, a group that opposes corporate power.