Three candidates Jim Young Kim, Jose Antonio Ocampo & Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in race for World Bank chief

WASHINGTON: The World Bank has received three nominations for the post of its presidency, including the US President Barack Obama's pick Jim Young Kim.

The other two nominations received by the World Bank are Jose Antonio Ocampo, a Colombian national and Professor at Columbia University in New York and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance Minister.

Yesterday was the last day of submitting the nominations. In a statement, the World Bank said its Executive Directors will conduct formal interviews of the three candidates in Washington, in the coming weeks.

Expectations are the president would be selected by consensus by the 2012 Spring Meetings.

Since its inception in 1944, the World Bank has always been headed by an American national.

But this time emerging nations including the BRICS bloc are seeking a transparent and merit-based selection process.

The new president would replace Robert Zoellick, who has headed the World Bank since July 2007.