WASHINGTON, February 20, 2024-The World Bank Group today announced the appointment of Wencai Zhang as Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Administrative Officer.
"Wencai will bring to the Bank his wealth of strategic and operational experience in development and with Multilateral Development Banks," said World Bank Group President Ajay Banga. "I am very pleased that he will help us implement the new Bank vision of ending poverty on a livable planet."
Wencai will oversee the transformation of the Bank Group's Budget, Planning and Strategy and Information and Technology Services, ensuring that the organization's budget and IT resources are used most effectively. He will manage several corporate units- including corporate procurement, general services, security, health and safety - as well as the Sanctions System.
Wencai, a Chinese national, comes from the Export-Import Bank of China where he is Vice President. He is also serving as a Trustee of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, which promotes international accounting and sustainability standards globally.
In the past decade, Wencai has been Vice President at the Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC); Vice President at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) where he led operations in South, Central and West Asia and promoted knowledge sharing and adoption of innovative technologies; and Director General for the Department of International Economic and Financial Cooperation at the Chinese Ministry of Finance. He started his career as a staff in the World Bank Department at the Chinese Ministry of Finance and Advisor to the Executive Director for China at the World Bank Group.
