Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank, yesterday pledged to develop a formal framework for dealing with corruption in developing countries, a move urged on him by European shareholders anxious that his anti-corruption drive should not paralyse the bank's lending and lead to it abandoning people in need.

Britain and some other European countries have pressed Mr Wolfowitz, the former US deputy defence secretary, to put greater emphasis on fighting corruption by building institutions in the developing world rather than simply suspending loans where corruption is suspected.