Axel Van Trotsenburg

Axel van Trotsenburg (@AxelVT_WB) is the World Bank Managing Director of Operations. In this role, which he assumed on October 1, 2019, Mr van Trotsenburg oversees the Bank’s operational program and ensures that the Bank’s delivery model continues to meet the needs of client countries. He also builds support and mobilizes financial resources across the international community for efforts to assist low and middle-income countries.

Mr van Trotsenburg brings deep experience in regional operations and finance, drawing on his experience as currently the longest serving Vice President at the Bank, with two tenures in the Finance Complex and two in Operations. A Dutch and Austrian national, he was Acting World Bank CEO from September 2 – 30, 2019 and served as World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean from February 2019. In this latter position, he led relations with 31 countries in the region and oversaw a portfolio of ongoing projects, technical assistance and grants worth more than US$30 billion.

From 2016 to January 2019, Mr van Trotsenburg served as World Bank Vice President of Development Finance (DFi). Here, he oversaw strategic mobilization of resources, and was responsible for the replenishment and stewardship of the International Development Association (IDA), the largest source of concessional financing for the world's poorest countries. He has led the policy negotiations and process for two IDA replenishments, which together mobilized a record $125 billion—$50 billion in 2010 for IDA16 and $75 billion in 2016 for IDA18. Under his leadership, for the first time, IDA leveraged its equity by blending donor contributions with internal resources and funds raised through debt markets.

In his DFi role, Mr van Trotsenburg also oversaw the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) corporate finances. He co-led the World Bank Group's efforts to obtain a capital increase which resulted in shareholders endorsing a transformative package in April 2018, including an increase of the IBRD capital by $60 billion. He also co-chaired the replenishment negotiations for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) that were successfully concluded in April 2018 and was responsible of a multi-billion-dollar trust fund portfolio.

Apart from his experience in managing World Bank finances, Mr van Trotsenburg has had extensive experience in country operations and managing regional programs, including in Africa. Prior to his role as Vice President of DFi, he served as Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific Region from 2013 to 2016. From 2009 to 2013, he served as Vice President for Concessional Finance and Global Partnerships.

From July 2007 to July 2009, Mr van Trotsenburg was Country Director for Colombia and Mexico, and from 2002 to July 2007, Country Director for Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. From 1996 to 2001, he was the Senior Manager of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the largest and most comprehensive debt relief program for poor countries. In this capacity, he was responsible, with his IMF counterparts, for the design of the debt relief framework as well as the delivery of debt relief packages of about $30 billion for 20 countries. At the start of his career at the Bank, he worked as Senior Country Economist for Côte d’Ivoire and Economist for Guatemala.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr van Trotsenburg worked at the OECD in Paris. He holds a master’s and a doctorate degree in economics and a master’s degree in international affairs. He is married and has two children.