TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s former top currency diplomat Masato Kanda is poised to become the next head of the Asian Development Bank, which said on Thursday there were no other candidates.
The organisation has closed its nomination period for its next president, the ADB said in a statement. Its board of governors will begin voting on Monday and the result will be announced on Nov. 28.
Since the ADB was founded in 1966, its top post has always been filled by someone from Japan which, along with the United States, is the bank’s biggest shareholder. Kanda will succeed Masatsugu Asakawa, who announced last month his intention to retire from the position effective Feb. 23, 2025.
Kanda, who stepped down in July after three years as vice finance minister for international affairs, led massive bouts of yen-buying intervention in the currency markets in 2022 and 2024.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Christina Fincher)
