Japan will nominate Masato Kanda, the country’s former top diplomat on currency matters, as its candidate to become the next head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday.
Since the ADB was founded in 1966, the top job has always been filled by someone from Japan, which is the bank’s largest shareholder along with the United States. That makes Kanda a strong candidate to take on the role.
“(Kanda) is best suited to lead the ADB as he is well-versed in Asia-Pacific affairs and has built deep networks with executives from various countries and international institutions,” Suzuki said at a regular news conference. If elected, Kanda will succeed Masatsugu Asakawa, who announced Monday that he plans to step down on Feb. 23, 2025.
The development financier said in a statement that the election of the next ADB president would be conducted through “an open, transparent and merit-based process”.
Kanda, who stepped down in July after three years as deputy finance minister for international affairs, led large-scale interventions in currency markets to buy the yen in 2022 and 2024. He is currently a special adviser to the cabinet.
Asakawa, also a former top diplomat on Japan’s currency policy, became chairman of the ADB in January 2020 and oversaw measures to help the region’s economies cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several emerging economies, encouraged by their rapid growth, are challenging the tradition of advanced economies to occupy top positions in global financial institutions.
United States officials head the World Bank and Europeans head the International Monetary Fund.
