Treasury's Malpass aims to reform the World Bank

In his two years serving in the US Treasury, David Malpass has repeatedly lambasted the big development lenders as wasteful and ineffective, and called for reforms.

Now he is poised to take over the helm of the World Bank, where he can put his own stamp on its policies -- something that many experts say undermines the institution.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Malpass to lead the World Bank, replacing Jim Kim who left February 1.

According to an unwritten rule, as the single largest shareholder, Washington gets to choose the leader, with the support of European nations.

Malpass, a 62-year-old US Treasury official in charge of international affairs, does not mince words.

Institutions such as the World Bank, he said in congressional testimony in 2017, "spend a lot of money" but are "not very efficient."
In 2007, the eve of the financial crisis, Malpass penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed telling readers not to "panic" because "housing and debt markets are not that big a part of the US economy."
"But I don't know whether other countries will stand up to Trump on this."