January 9, 2019. The President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, announced he is stepping down from his position this February 1, 2019 to take a position with Global Infrastructure Partners, a private investment firm that did extensive business with the Bank during Kim’s tenure.
In a blog, Accountability Counsel’s Natalie Bridgeman Fields raises ethics concerns regarding Kim’s transition to a private investment firm, including potential violation of the institution’s own code of conduct. « The priorities he championed of “crowding in the private sector” and dramatically scaling up financial intermediary lending further remove the voice of project-affected people from the Bank’s decision making, » she writes. « We look forward to a future leader who better listens to those the Bank was established to serve and plays to the Bank’s potential strengths in a changing era of competition. »
Many have also raised concern about the possibility that Kim’s replacement will be selected by the US administration, as has been the unwritten agreement at the Bank previously, without a fair selection process.
Oxfam’s Nadia Dar stresses the need to implement Kim’s commitments on climate change and for an « open, transparent and merit-based selection process for Kim’s successor. »
Urgewald’s Knud Voecking commented, « His direct move into the investment industry without any ‘cooling off’ is a scandal. We criticise in the strongest terms that Kim is switching to a field of business which he had endowed with large sums of money during his term of office. » Adding, « [t]he World Bank must serve the interests of the poorest again and must not degenerate into a self-service shop for the investment industry. »
BIC Europe writes: « At a minimum, the Bank must now issue a satisfactory explanation for Kim’s sudden resignation and his immediate move to the private sector. » Also that « a new and more democratic selection procedure must ensure that Kim’s successor is chosen not by the US President but by all stakeholders in a fair and transparent manner, recognising the development mandate at the heart of the World Bank’s mission. »
Bank Information Center calls for any new World Bank president to be committed to implementing the institution’s development mission in a way that is community-driven, reduces inequality, is sustainable, and fulfills human rights.
Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO will assume the role of interim President. Read the World Bank press release here.