The concept was that the bank would issue bonds on Western capital markets and use the proceeds to provide long-term industrial financing, with backing from the Japanese government.

However, that was at what proved to be the peak of the demand created for Japanese products by the First World War and the consequent economic boom.

However, the Act was framed within the terms of the US-led Occupation policy of compartmentalizing financial services.

During the high-growth period of the Japanese economy in the 1960s, IBJ was particularly active in financing steel production, shipping, shipbuilding, and automobile manufacturing.

Following the first oil crisis, Japan moved to a pattern of lower growth as a mature economy, and IBJ expanded its customer base at home, and started the process of expansion overseas.