5 Membership
Chapter 5, Membership, lays out the framework that was agreed for AIIB membership. AIIB membership is open to any member of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or Asian Development Bank (AsDB). All of the Prospective Founding Members that signed the AIIB Charter can become members (almost all have already joined). New members are approved by AIIB’s Board of Governors; more than twenty new members were approved in 2017. This Chapter describes the benefits for Founding Members, and the differences for regional and non-regional members. AIIB’s regional members are located in Asia, under a United Nations definition. Regional members are expected to represent 75% of AIIB’s shareholding, and the President must be a national of a regional member. AIIB also has provisions for withdrawal and suspension of membership, very close to the provisions for other multilateral development banks. Tables compare IBRD, AsDB and AIIB membership (regional and non-regional, and new AIIB approvals).