Who Runs the World Bank Group?

President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim.

The World Bank Group is jointly owned by its 185 member country governments, but the donor countries hold greater power in making decisions about the Bank’s policies and which projects it funds than borrower countries.

The World Bank Group President is, and always has been, a U.S. citizen. Dr. Jim Yong Kim is the current President, and he will serve for five years.

The most important decisions are made by the Board of Governors, which is made up of one representative from each member country—usually the Minister of Finance. The Board of Governors meets once a year at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings to review and set broad policies and priorities.

Image of people communicating All other decisions are made by the Board of Directors. The board has 25 members, each representing one or more member governments. Only eight countries have their own directors. These include the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia. All other countries have to share a director.  The board operates largely behind closed doors, and does not allow the public to know much about their conversations or the reasons for their decisions.