The Finance and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency (FPD) was one of three Vice Presidencies created during President Lewis Preston's reorganization of January 1, 1993. Following the abolishment of all Senior Vice Presidencies on December 1, 1991, Preston initiated a larger reorganization in 1993 that aligned the Bank's organization with the priority areas of its poverty reduction effort. The result was three new thematic vice presidencies: FPD; Human Resources Development and Operations Policy (HRO); and Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD). The vice presidencies were responsible for:

• providing operational support to the Regions by participating in Sector Operations Division (SOD) task teams, undertaking specialized assignments for the Regions, providing ad hoc advice, distilling lessons of operational experience, disseminating best practices, and defining sector and operational policies;

• assisting in identifying and addressing the Bank's skills mix and training needs;

• providing information and intellectual support to interested parties outside the Bank;

• liaising with the UN and other official and private organizations; and

• delivering complete products to the country directors in the 'clustered' subsectors, where the small number of expert staff can most efficiently be located in the central Vice Presidency.

At the time of its establishment, the FPD Vice Presidency had three departments: the Financial Sector Development Department (FSD); the Private Sector Development Department (PSD); and the Industry and Energy Department (IEN). FSD absorbed the functions and staff of the former Financial Policy and Systems Division of the Country Economics Department (CECFP) located in the Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC). The PSD absorbed the functions and staff of the former Public Sector Management and Private Sector Development Division of the Country Economics Department (CECPS), which was also previously located in DEC. IEN was transferred from the Sector and Operations PolicyVice Presidency (OPS). FPD departments were responsible for the following functions:

• preparing policies, guidelines, standards, handbooks and analytical tools relevant to the sector;

• identifying, codifying and disseminating best practices and lessons of experience, and evaluating weaknesses;

• providing advice to the Regions as needed;

• monitoring and tracking work in the sectors assigned in order to identify generic issues and identify, evaluate and influence trends and patterns;

• performing surveys of experience and practice within the Bank and elsewhere, and developing innovative approaches;

• participating in Bankwide efforts to assess skill requirements, and to upgrade skills through recruitment, training, orientation, seminars, newsletters, etc.;

• representing the Bank to external communities of interest; and

• maintaining an awareness of relevant external practices and viewpoints.

Jean-Francois Rischard assumed the role as Vice President for FPD in January 1993.

As part of the reorganization of the Bank in 1997, the FPDVP was terminated and replaced with the Finance, Private Sector Development and Infrastructure Network (FPSI). FPSI was created along with three other networks: the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network (PREM); the Human Development Network (HDN); and the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Network (ESSD). The FSD, PSD, and IEN departments of FPDVP were transferred to FPSI, joining the new Transportation, Water, and Urban Development Department (TWU).