The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will commence operation in mid-January 2016, the AIIB’s deputy head said Thursday. According to Chen Huan, cited by China’s Xinhua news agency, the bank’s opening will be possible after India and Russia, two largest bank’s shareholders after China, ratify the AIIB agreement in mid-December. China ratified the agreement last month. The AIIB is an international financial institution proposed by China to invest in infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region. In October 2014, the bill establishing the bank was signed by 21 states. Currently, there are 57 prospective founding members in the financial organization. The BRICS Bank, AIIB, the first major new multilateral financial institution created in nearly two decades, plans to hold its first board meeting in January and begin selecting its first projects for funding in early 2016, AIIB president-designate Jin Liqun said. Despite the recent inclusion of China’s yuan in the International Monetary Fund’s basket of global reserve currencies, the bank will make its first project loans in dollars, although Jin did not rule out yuan-based deals in the future.
