With characteristic lack of restraint, the Trump administration last week jumped the gun on the World Bank presidential election process by naming David Malpass as its preferred candidate to succeed Jim Yong Kim.

The formal nomination process, which did not begin until the following day, is based on selection principles agreed in 2011 that put the emphasis on an “open, merit-based and transparent” appointment. It is high time those principles were put in practice.

Since the World Bank’s creation in 1944, the presidency has always gone to a man – specifically, an American man. Yet the bank, based in Washington DC, is one the largest lender-donors to developing countries, doling out $4.6bn in the fiscal year 2017-18 alone.

There is a clear need for reform. The world has changed radically since the bank was formed after the second world war, when it was agreed that the US would select the organisation’s president while European countries picked the head of the International Monetary Fund. Yet, despite growing frustration, the US has chosen to back its preferred candidate strongly and swiftly, perhaps to discourage other shareholders – the 189 nations that support its work – from nominating or seeking consensus around other aspirants.

Kim, who arrived with credible experience in global health, held more obvious appeal to transitioning and developing countries than Malpass, a vocal critic of the bank unlikely to enthuse those most affected by its work.

Malpass, currently undersecretary for international affairs at the US treasury, is a veteran of two previous Republican administrations and a former chief economist at Bear Stearns, the now defunct investment bank. He sees the Word Bank as part of a “giant sprawl” of international institutions that create “mountains of debt without solving problems”.

In behaving like an 800-pound gorilla, the Trump administration has established another battle between the president’s “America first” approach and traditional cooperation over global economic management.

A Malpass appointment risks stoking tensions with China, already locked in a trade standoff with the US, by questioning the scale of the bank’s lending to Beijing.

There is also concern that Malpass would revert to pro-fossil fuel policies just as the bank, under Kim, has addressed calls to end financial support for oil and gas extraction.

Kim’s abrupt decision to step down more than three years early signalled a limit reached. In a pointed letter to staff, Kim, who has long urged action on climate change, wrote: “The opportunity to join the private sector was unexpected, but I’ve concluded that this is the path through which I will be able to make the largest impact on major global issues like climate change and the infrastructure deficit in emerging markets.”

He has joined Global Infrastructure Partners, an investment firm. World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva is acting as the organisation’s interim president.

The one thing neither the world nor the bank needs is more of the same. Real change in its presidential recruiting practices and a fresh vision are long overdue. The coming weeks will show whether other World Bank stakeholders – Europe holds 30% of the voting share, the US 16% – will attempt to block Trump’s nominee and stand up against the traditional US stranglehold. If not, the least gentlemanly and agreeable of post war gentlemen’s agreements will stagger onwards.

Other names in the mix

Okonjo-Iweala is a former managing director at the bank. Former cabinet minister in Nigeria , she sits on the boards of Twitter and global vaccine alliance Gavi. Okonjo-Iweala has said she would consider the role “if nominated to the position and if the circumstances are right.”

Georgieva is the World Bank CEO and interim president. A Bulgarian who previously worked at the European Commission.

Twice Indonesia’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani is chief operating officer of the World Bank Group.

The Egypt-born, British-American economist is deputy governor of the Bank of England and director of the London School of Economics. Formerly worked at the UK’s Department for International Development and the International Monetary Fund.

A professor and director at Columbia University’s school of international and public affairs, Ocampo was previously at the UN.