WASHINGTON, D.C., September 9, 1998 --- Mr. Peter L. Woicke, currently Chairman of J.P. Morgan Securities Asia and a member of J.P Morgan’s management group, has been appointed Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
World Bank Group President James D. Wolfensohn announced the appointment, which he said culminated a worldwide search for a successor to Jannik Lindbaek. Mr. Lindbaek announced last December that, for personal reasons, he would not seek renewal of his five-year term.
"I am delighted by this appointment," Mr. Wolfensohn said. "Peter Woicke brings 30 years of diverse experience with one of the world’s premiere financial institutions. His extensive work in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America have given him great experience and great sensitivity to the issues of the developing world. IFC is beginning an era of making new kinds of investments in new regions of the developing world and is seeking ways to sharpen its client responsiveness. At the same time, the Corporation, like the whole Bank Group, faces enormous challenges in the aftermath of crises in Asia and Russia. Peter is the right kind of leader to guide IFC through these challenging times."
Mr. Woicke, 55, a German national, held the position of Chairman of J.P. Morgan Securities Asia based in Singapore for the past three years. Under his leadership, revenues for Asia and the Pacific more than doubled. More recently, the company moved from its focus on direct financing to providing financial advice to governments and banks on restructuring and privatization.
From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Woicke co-managed the global markets area of J.P. Morgan, following a two-year assignment to reorganize the information technology support for the company. Other management roles that he held during his period at New York headquarters between 1987 and 1995 included managing the brokerage department, the custody department, and heading the company’s activities in Latin America.
Internationally, Mr. Woicke has spent much of his career working in emerging markets. Beyond his most recent experience in Asia, he managed two banks in Brazil from 1982 to 1987; headed the banking division of a J.P. Morgan affiliate in Beirut from 1973 to 1976; and, from 1976, as the London-based head of the company’s oil and gas group, he was closely involved with energy financing in the North Sea, Asia and Australia.
Mr. Woicke will take up duties on Jan. 1, 1999.
IFC was founded in 1956 as a legally and financially independent part of the World Bank Group to foster growth in the developing world by financing private sector investments, mobilizing capital in the international financial markets and offering technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. It provides loan and equity finance for business ventures in developing countries as well as working to build efficient capital markets.
