Former UK Treasury Minister Danny Alexander is being tipped to take up a senior role at the new Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank — viewed by many as China’s answer to the Washington-based World Bank and IMF.

Alexander (pictured), the Scottish Liberal Democrat who lost his Westminster seat of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey to the SNP by more than 10,000 votes last May, is set to move to Beijing to become one of five vice-presidents of the new development bank, according to news reports.

While the UK looks set to take up one of the vice-president’s jobs, Germany could be given a vice-president’s role and also one of the two vice-chairs on the AIIB’s board of governors.

The Treasury told The Financial Times: “We don’t comment on speculation about appointments to international institutions.

“The UK has been a leading supporter of the AIIB from the outset, playing a significant part in the establishment of the bank, including as the first G7 country to join the bank.”

The AIIB’s structure is expected to be similar to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

China is expected have more than 30% of shares in the AIIB, and India will be the second-biggest shareholder with about 11%.

The AIIB is expected to lend between $10 billion and $15 billion a year in its first few years.

The AIIB says it “will focus on the development of infrastructure and other productive sectors in Asia, including energy and power, transportation and telecommunications, rural infrastructure and agriculture development, water supply and sanitation, environmental protection, urban development and logistics.”