AIIB chief pledges 'world-class charter'

JIN Liqun, designated president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), has pledged a "world-class charter" to govern the China-led multilateral development bank, in a clear bid to bring waverers such as the US and Japan into the currently 57-strong shareholding structure after the bank builds up operations from next year.

Mr Jin told the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) in an interview that the bank, expected to start lending in 2016, is already in contact on future cooperation with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Germany's public sector lender KfW.

Mr Jin - at present secretary-general of the AIIB's pre-startup multilateral interim secretariat - indicated the main areas of activity would be the energy, transport, and water/urban sectors, but said it would be open to all areas of infrastructure. In a policy expected to set an important yardstick for other multilateral financial institutions, he strongly backed the bank's non-resident board structure as efficient and cost-effective. He confirmed the bank's unit of account and main currency of issuance would be the US d…