Jorge Familiar, a Mexican national, has served as Vice President of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean since May 1, 2014, and is the first Latin American to hold the position in the last 30 years.

Eradicating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity through the creation of opportunities for all Latin Americans are at the core of his vision for the Region.

Familiar previously served as Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank Group, beginning in August 2010, where he played a key role in facilitating and promoting cooperation and dialogue between the Board of Governors, Boards of Executive Directors and Management of the World Bank Group institutions.

In his current position, Familiar leads relations with 31 Latin American and Caribbean countries through a portfolio of ongoing projects, technical assistance and grants worth more than US$31 billion. Traditionally, the Region has delivered around 30 percent of the annual lending commitments of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the World Bank Group’s window for middle-income countries.

Previously, Familiar devoted his efforts to financial inclusion as Chief Executive Officer of Mexico’s Instituto del Fondo Nacional para el Consumo de los Trabajadores (Instituto FONACOT), a public financial institution with more than one million clients and a loan portfolio of more than US$1 billion that grants consumer loans to workers with the lowest income levels. In this role, Familiar provided strategic leadership to the organization and helped restore it to profitability during the global financial crisis.

Between 2004 and 2008, Familiar served as Executive Director and Alternate Executive Director for the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, having been elected to represent Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain and Venezuela at the Boards of Executive Directors of the IBRD, the International Finance Corporation, the International Development Association and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

Familiar began his career at the National Banking and Securities Commission of Mexico (CNBV in Spanish), where, having held several positions, he became Vice-chairman of Securities and Derivatives Markets Supervision and served as a member of the Governing Board. He was in charge of designing, negotiating and implementing several regulatory instruments, including the Securities Market Law approved by Congress in 2005 and the Investment Fund Law approved by Congress in 2001.

He was a member of the Committee of Best Practices of Corporate Governance of Mexico’s Business Coordinating Council (CCE) and of the Accounting Principles Commission of the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants.

Familiar also lectured on finance at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and was a member of the Advisory Board of the university’s Accounting and Strategic Finance Program.

He holds a master’s degree in finance and bachelor’s degree in accounting from ITAM.