PB19 Free, open, merit-based selection for a president of an IFI: a rare case study

Despite calls for reforms to selection processes for appointing their leadership, international financial institutions (IFIs) have been slow to embrace transparency and competitiveness, and to move beyond their traditions of automatically appointing nationals of particular countries to their top roles. However, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) bucked this trend during its selection of a new leader in 2012, due to a unique set of circumstances arising. Bob McMullan, former Australian Member of Parliament and an Executive Director of the EBRD, recounts his experience during this selection process, and offers reflections on how these entrenched processes in IFIs could be slowly changed.