Wolfowitz: World Bank Must Introduce Free Checking, Online Bill Payment

Paul Wolfowitz, President Bush's choice to head up the World Bank, has wasted no time in laying out an ambitious agenda to remake the world's largest source of aid to developing countries. In order to effectively compete in an increasingly cut-throat lending market, says Wolfowitz, the World Bank must offer free checking and online bill payment. Some financial analysts say that the move could be risky, given the developing world's notorious suspicion of banks.

Wolfowitz must persuade natives to move savings from socks and mattresses to World Bank checking accounts

By Cole Walters, staff reporter

Washington, DC – Paul Wolfowitz, President Bush's choice to head up the world's largest source of aid to developing countries, is wasting no time in proposing an ambitious agenda to shake up the formerly staid World Bank. Mr. Wolfowitz announced yesterday that in order to compete effectively in an increasingly cut-throat lending market, the World Bank must offer free checking and other incentives, including online bill payment and free gifts for customers who agree to open World Bank checking accounts.

But many financial analysts were quick to criticize the move, noting that it may be difficult for the World Bank to win over new customers, given its enduring reputation as a global loan shark. Another challenge: the 61-year-old Mr. Wolfowitz must persuade potential customers in the developing world to abandon their long-held distrust of banks.

Coming to a neighborhood near you
For members of the World Bank's 10,000-member staff and influential governing board, made up of representatives of 184 nations, word of Mr. Wolfowitz's plans to remake the institution is providing yet another reason to grouse. While their boss-to-be is widely derided as a political hawk, he is also likely to put his unique stamp on their employment futures.

As the World Bank shifts many of its operations online, up to half of its loan officers, customer service representatives and tellers could lose their jobs, or be shifted to one of dozens of new "one-stop-shopping" outlets being planned across the globe. According to a spokesman who is facilitating Mr. Wolfowitz's transition into the bank's top job, the first outlets in Peshawar, Pakistan; Lagos, Nigeria; and Philadelphia could open as early as this summer.

"We want to send a message to poor people around the globe that 'we are your bank,'" announced Bank spokesman Christian R. DeLucre. "Now they can enjoy all of the convenience of online bill payment and unlimited check writing, with no obligation to maintain a minimum balance."

Thanks, but no banks
But the bold move has already come under fire from residents of the same communities that the World Bank is purporting to help. In Peshawar, a representative of the conservative Islamic party Jamiat Ulema Islam immediately condemned the initiative, noting that Koranic law expressly forbids interest-bearing transactions, a category that the Bank's proposed interest-bearing checking accounts would certainly fall into.

In the United States, public officials in Philadelphia expressed bafflement that their city has been selected to house one of the World Bank's new 'convenience banking centers.' "Sure we've had our problems in the past and we're experiencing some budgetary contractions now. What American city isn't?" said city spokeswoman Marlene Nicolo, "But we've got plenty of banks here already. As far as we're concerned they can keep their business out of our city."

'Break the bank'
For critics of Wolfowitz—and the World Bank—news of his plans is seen as evidence that the institution could soon play an even more nefarious role than it has in the past. Activists from the group 'Break the Bank' are planning to release a statement to on-line independent media centers around the world this week, charging that what Mr. Wolfowitz is calling 'free checking' is really nothing of the sort.

"They call it free checking, but if you read the fine print, the fines for bounced checks are horrendous," said one activist who asked not to be identified. "In some parts of the world, a bounced check is just an inconvenience, but for the folks the Bank pretends it's helping, paying these fines could mean going without food for six months."

Free gift—your choice
Despite opposition from within and outside of the institution he'll soon head up, there are no signs that Mr. Wolfowitz plans to back away from his ambitious agenda. Next week, the new president's transition team will ink a deal with a Chinese manufacturer for the production of hundreds of thousands of t-shirts, key chains and insulated cup holders known as 'koozies.' The products will feature the image of a smiling globe and a new slogan: 'A Bank for the World.'

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