China has officially nominated former finance vice-minister Jin Liqun for the presidency of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The announcement comes after the Federal Government of Australia announced the commitment as a founding member of the the AIIB.

Jin Liqun is now chief of the AIIB's preparation body, he was also formerly a top official at the China Investment Corporation. As finance vice-minister, Mr. Liqun  managed the budget for government organisations and oversaw fund raising from domestic and international capital markets. He has previously worked for the World Bank (WB) and for the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Jin Liqun has a master's degree in English Literature from the Beijing Foreign Studies University and was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in Boston University's 1987-88 economics graduate programme.

Key decisions need 75 percent of the vote to pass. China will provide US$29.78 billion to the bank for a 30.34 % stake and 26.06 % of the voting rights, giving it veto power over key decisions.

In late March we reported that South Korea and Turkey had confirmed plans to become funding members of the AIIB after the decision of three European countries, Italy, France and Germany, to join the AIIB.

In the same month we published that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, had announced that the UK intended to become a prospective founding member of the AIIB. The UK was followed by major European nations France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria.

On January 5th New Zealand became the 24th nation to sign on and join as a founding member of the AIIB. Previously, in November 2014, we reported that Indonesia had decided to join the AIIB following the news one month earlier that twenty-one Asian countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the AIIB.

Once fully operational the AIIB will support access to finance for infrastructure projects across Asia, using a variety of support measures including loans, equity investments, and guarantees, to boost investment across a range of sectors including transportation, energy, telecommunication, agriculture and urban development. This support can complement the work already done in the region by existing multilateral development banks such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.