Ajay Banga comes to Washington

From: POLITICO's Morning Money - Wednesday Apr 05,2023 12:01 pm
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By Zachary Warmbrodt

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Ajay Banga, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the World Bank, just completed a grueling, global “listening tour” across four continents, flying 39,546 miles to meet with 37 governments.

It paid off in the eyes of the U.S.: He emerged without any country announcing a competing candidate and, according to a Treasury official, he has the support of more than 50 percent of the World Bank’s voting share. The bank’s board is expected to sign off on his presidency in the coming weeks.

Now, as they say, comes the hard part.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has sketched out an ambitious revamp of the World Bank and similar institutions. She wants them to tap more private money and to think bigger than traditional country-specific assistance when it comes to addressing global problems like climate change.

Next week’s convening of the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in Washington will mark an important step forward as Yellen tries to put her stamp on international organizations that try to boost global prosperity via support for developing countries.

Banga will have a packed schedule here next week as he continues to get to know leaders from around the world.

“Everything seems greased for [Banga] becoming the next president,” said Mark Sobel, U.S. chairman at the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. “But there are these questions about whether the World Bank can use its balance sheet more proactively and creatively to lend more, including for climate.”

He’ll kick things off today at a Center for Global Development event, where he’ll talk about the future of the World Bank.

MM has a first look at what Banga will say. 

“It must pursue both climate adaptation and mitigation, it must reach out to lower-income countries without turning its back on middle-income countries, it must think globally but recognize national and regional needs,” he said in prepared remarks. “The task is great.”

Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard, will go on to argue Wednesday that “even with governments, other multilateral development banks and philanthropies all working together we will still fall short.”

“We need the private sector to come in,” he said.

The global economic outlook makes Banga’s task especially daunting. 

Outgoing World Bank President David Malpass at an Atlantic Council event Tuesday described a “reversal in development” in recent years, with rising poverty and worsening literacy problems.

The world suffered a “double whammy” from Covid-19 and then higher prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, plus rising interest rates that are rippling around the world and new turmoil in the banking system.

Malpass argues that the world is suffering from stagflation, with stubbornly high inflation and low growth.

“If you look at things today, the challenge is that there may not be progress,” he said. “We need to avoid that lost decade.”

Happy Wednesday — What’s on your agenda for the IMF-World Bank spring meetings? Want to catch up? Let us know: Zach Warmbrodt, Sam Sutton.

 

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Driving the Day

The CFTC’s agricultural advisory committee meets at 9 a.m. … Ajay Banga, candidate for World Bank president, discusses the future of the bank at a Center for Global Development event at 10 a.m. … Brookings hosts an event on lifting the deposit insurance cap at 10 a.m. …

DOJ charges startup founder with lying to JPMorganProsecutors charged the 31-year-old founder of college financial aid firm Frank with misleading JPMorgan Chase when she sold her company to the bank.

Hill leaders demand Treasury redo shell company rule A dozen top lawmakers, including five committee chairs, are urging the Treasury Department to close what they call an "escape hatch" in a proposed form designed to collect ownership information about corporations.

The draft form, which Treasury is now rethinking in response to earlier complaints, would let companies say their ownership information is unknown or that they couldn’t obtain it.

"It is disappointing that this [proposal] deviates significantly from Congress’ intent," the lawmakers said in a letter led by House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Senate Budget Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). “The beneficial ownership reporting regime was intended to be a strategic tool to target bad actors and nation-states like Russia and China who are abusing our financial system to engage in illicit activity.”

China turns the table on the U.S. with merger reviews WSJ reports that Chinese regulators have slowed down their merger reviews of a number of proposed acquisitions by U.S. companies, in a new front in the two countries’ war over tech.

Chinese regulators have asked companies to make their products available in China just as they do elsewhere in the world, in an attempt to counter U.S. export controls.

Investors bet against TD amid banking turmoilToronto-Dominion Bank is emerging as one of the banking industry’s top targets for short sellers, according to Bloomberg, which cites concerns with TD’s exposure to Canada’s housing slowdown, its Charles Schwab stake and a planned regional bank acquisition.

Tim Scott warns DOE on housing ruleSen. Tim Scott, the top Republican on Senate Banking, is asking DOE to redo an energy conservation rule for manufactured homes, arguing that the latest version will raise the costs of affordable housing.

Crypto

Texas eyes limits on miners Coindesk reports that a Texas Senate committee approved a Republican-led bill that would restrict benefits for Bitcoin miners by capping how much they can participate in grid balancing programs.

Regulatory Corner

State regulators target AI scamsSam reports that securities regulators from Alabama, Montana and Texas filed enforcement actions against YieldTrust.ai for what they said was a fraudulent investment scheme claiming to offer AI-driven trading in digital assets.

Fly Around

EU housing boom ends FT: “House prices in the EU have suffered their first quarterly fall since 2015, as rising borrowing costs bring an end to an almost decade-long boom in residential property markets.”

Credit Suisse chair apologizes to angry investors at shareholder meetingWSJ: “One shareholder brought empty walnut shells to the stage as a gift to Credit Suisse’s board. He said he had eaten the nuts he bought for as much as the value of each of his Credit Suisse shares.”

 

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