Jim Yong Kim World Bank president on Monday resigned more than three years before the end of his tenure in 2022.

Kim, in a report by Al Jazeera, said that he would immediately join a firm and focus on increasing infrastructure in developing countries.

No further details were provided by the bank on the sudden resignation of the 59-year-old president who has served for more than six years as president of the World Bank.

“It’s been a great honour 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.

“The world of the World Bank Group is more important now than ever as the aspirations of the poor rise all over the world, and problems like climate change, pandemics, famine, and refugees continue to grow in both their scale and complexity,” he added.

Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of the World Bank is to assume the role of interim president from February 1, 2019.

Kim is a South-Korean-born physician and anthropologist, raised in the United States, has served as president of the World Bank since 2012.

He was re-elected for a second five-year term that began in 2017, before that, he was the President of Dartmouth College, becoming the first Asian-American to lead the Ivy League institution.

He previously held posts at Harvard University and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he was known for his work of combatting HIV/AIDS