Over the past two years, a drumbeat of calls for reforming the World Bank has pushed its way onto the front pages of major newspapers and the agenda of heads of state.

Many low- and middle-income countries – the population the World Bank is tasked with helping – are falling deeper into debt and facing growing costs as the impacts of climate change increase in severity. A chorus of critics accuse the World Bank of failing to evolve to meet the crises.

The job of leading that reform is now almost certain to fall to Ajay Banga, an Indian American businessman and former CEO of Mastercard who President Joe Biden nominated to replace resigning World Bank President David Malpass. Nominations closed on March 29, 2023, with no other publicly declared candidates.

There is no shortage of advice for what Banga and the World Bank need to do.

The G-20 recently issued a report urging the World Bank and the other multilateral development banks to loosen their lending restrictions to get more money flowing to countries in need. A commission led by economists Nicholas Stern and Vera Songwe called for a rapid, sustained investment push that prioritizes transitioning to cleaner energy, achieving the U.N. sustainable development goals and meeting the needs of increasingly vulnerable countries.

African ministers of finance will soon come out with their own “to do” list for the World Bank, and India’s minister of finance just pulled together an expert group to consider World Bank reform.

Banga will walk into the job with these and many other to-do lists. Yet he will inherit a corporate culture that makes the World Bank Group too inwardly focused and too slow to respond.

I have worked for the World Bank Group and with it from the outside. I see four key roles – four “C’s” – that Banga will need to master from the outset. From his track record and his reputation for deep thoughtfulness, I am confident that he can.

The World Bank Group is a conglomerate with four balance sheets, three cultures and four executive boards, plus a dispute resolution arm.

Lending to low- and middle-income countries is just part of its role. The World Bank Group also provides technical assistance across all areas of economic development and invests in and provides risk insurance to encourage companies to invest in projects and places they might otherwise consider too risky. Its ability to mobilize private-sector finance and stretch every dollar is crucial for meeting the world’s development and climate adaptation and mitigation needs.

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