World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has resigned, more than three years before his term ends in 2022, the multilateral lender said on Monday.

Kim, 59, said that he will immediately join a firm and focus on increasing infrastructure in developing countries. The bank did not provide further details.

"It's been a great honor to serve as President of this remarkable institution, full of passionate individuals dedicated to the mission of ending extreme poverty in our lifetime," Kim said in a statement on Monday.

"The world of the World Bank Group is more important now than ever as the aspirations of the poor rise all over the world, and problems like climate change, pandemics, famine and refugees continue to grow in both their scale and complexity," he added.

CEO Kristalina Georgieva will assume the role of interim president from February 1.

A South-Korean-born physician and anthropologist, raised in the United States, Kim has served as president of the World Bank since 2012. He was re-elected for a second five-year term that began in 2017.

Prior to taking the helm at the bank, he was the President of Dartmouth College, becoming the first Asian-American to lead the Ivy League institution.

He previously held posts at Harvard University and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he was known for his work combatting HIV/AIDS.