World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announces resignation

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim addresses a meeting in Bali last year. He will resign in February. Yonhap

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced Monday he will step down next month, more than three years before his term is due to expire.

The decision ends Kim's six-year tenure and may give U.S. President Donald decisive influence over leadership of the global development lender.

"It has 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.

Kim, who became president in 2012, will join an as-yet unnamed firm focusing on investments in developing countries, the bank said in a statement, and will return to the board of Partners-in-Health, which he co-founded.

Under Kim's leadership, the bank set a goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030 and boosted financing.

Last year, it also won approval for a $13 billion capital increase after acceding to requests from the Trump administration to curb loans to high-income countries like China.

Kim's tenure was also marked by high levels of disaffection among World Bank staff, who objected to widespread internal restructuring that Kim began.

World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva will serve as interim president when Kim leaves on Feb. 1. (AFP)