[2][3][4] The IFC's stated aim is to create opportunities for people to escape poverty and achieve better living standards by mobilizing financial resources for private enterprise, promoting accessible and competitive markets, supporting businesses and other private-sector entities, and creating jobs and delivering necessary services to those who are poverty stricken or otherwise vulnerable.

It offers an array of debt and equity financing services and helps companies face their risk exposures while refraining from participating in a management capacity.

For example, a report by Oxfam International and other NGOs in 2015, "The Suffering of Others", found the IFC was not performing enough due diligence and managing risk in many of its investments in third-party lenders.

An example often cited by NGOs and critical journalists is IFC granting financing to a Saudi prince for a five-star hotel in Ghana.

Robert L. Garner joined the World Bank in 1947 as a senior executive and expressed his view that private business could play an important role in international development.

In 1950, Garner and his colleagues proposed establishing a new institution for the purpose of making private investments in the less developed countries served by the World Bank.

[14] The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has partnered with Mohinani Group to support plastic recycling efforts in Ghana and Nigeria.

IFC will provide a $37 million loan to Mohinani Group’s subsidiaries, Polytank Ghana Limited and Sonnex Packaging Nigeria, to establish PET recycling plants in both countries.

Each plant will produce 15,000 tons of recycled PET (rPET) resins annually, reducing reliance on virgin plastics and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

[16] IFC is currently led by Makhtar Diop who was appointed as the institution's Managing Director and Executive Vice President in February 2021.

Although the IFC coordinates its activities in many areas with the other World Bank Group institutions, it generally operates independently as it is a separate entity with legal and financial autonomy, established by its own Articles of Agreement.

[15] It determines a suitable repayment schedule and grace period for each loan individually to meet borrowers' currency and cash flow requirements.

[15] The IFC prefers to invest for the long-term, usually for a period of eight to fifteen years, before exiting through the sale of shares on a domestic stock exchange, usually as part of an initial public offering.

[16] The Global Trade Finance Program provides guarantees to cover payment risks for emerging market banks regarding promissory notes, bills of exchange, letters of credit, bid and performance bonds, supplier credit for capital goods imports, and advance payments.

The program was created in 1957 and as of 2011[update] has channeled approximately $38 billion from over 550 financial institutions toward development projects in over 100 different emerging markets.

[15][16] Due to banks retrenching from lending across borders in emerging markets, in 2009 the IFC started to syndicate parallel loans to the international financial institutions and other participants.

[33] In addition to its investment activities the IFC provides a range of advisory services to support corporate decision-making regarding business, environment, social impact, and sustainability.

It prioritizes the encouragement of reforms that improve the trade friendliness and ease of doing business in an effort to advise countries on fostering a suitable investment climate.

[16] The International Finance Corporation has stated that cities in emerging markets can attract more than $29 trillion in climate-related sectors by 2030.

The AMC manages capital mobilized by the IFC as well as by third parties such as sovereign or pension funds, and other development financing organizations.

Despite being owned by the IFC, the AMC has investment decision autonomy and is charged with a fiduciary responsibility to the four individual funds under its management.

[40][41] S&P rated the IFC as having a strong financial standing with adequate capital and liquidity, cautious management policies, a high level of geographic diversification, and anticipated treatment as a preferred creditor given its membership in the World Bank Group.

It noted that the IFC faces a weakness relative to other multilateral institutions of having higher risks due to its mandated emphasis on private sector investing and its income heavily affected by equity markets.

In particular, the EHS Guidelines[43] contain the performance levels and measures that are normally acceptable to the World Bank Group, and that are generally considered to be achievable in new facilities at reasonable costs by existing technology.

The IFC has created a mass-market certification system for fast growing emerging markets called EDGE ("Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies").

Certification occurs when the EDGE[46] standard is met, which requires 20% less energy, water, and materials than conventional homes.