[3] It was founded in 1973 by the Finance Ministers at the first Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now called the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) with the support of the King of Saudi Arabia at the time (Faisal), and began its activities on 3 April 1975.

[4] On 22 May 2013, IsDB tripled its authorized capital to $150 billion to better serve Muslims in member and non-member countries.

[5] The Bank has received credit ratings of AAA from Standard & Poor's,[6] Moody's,[7] and Fitch.

The basic condition for membership is that the prospective member country should be a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), pay its contribution to the capital of the Bank and be willing to accept such terms and conditions as may be decided upon by the IsDB Board of Governors.

IDB Group is engaged in a wide range of specialized and integrated activities such as: