BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/28
Founding documents signed for AIIB development bank
The founding agreement for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was signed at the end of June by 50 counties, including Finland. A remaining seven founding members are expected to sign the agreement before the end of the year. The bank’s authorized capital will be $100 billion. China’s share of the bank’s capital will be about 30 % and its voting share about 26 %. In other words, China has veto power over bank’s decisions. The next largest voting shares are held by India (7.5 %), Russia (5.9 %) and Germany (4.2 %). Finland’s participation is a 0.3 % capital share and a 0.5 % voting share.
AIIB came out of a Chinese initiative that was part of China’s efforts at increasing its international economic presence. Non-Asian founding members hope that membership will strengthen economic and trade relations with Asian countries, especially China. The bank is expected to launch operations by the end of the year.