The best known IFIs were established after World War II to assist in the reconstruction of Europe and provide mechanisms for international cooperation in managing the global financial system.
Since MDBs have a shareholding structure and are backed by member countries, they tend to profit from favorable loan conditions compared to other banks and can therefore take more risks in their investment strategy.
Since the 2020s, in the context of the G20, the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings and other International Summits, MDBs have committed to multiple shared reform objectives.
The best-known IFIs were established after World War II to assist in the reconstruction of Europe and provide mechanisms for international cooperation in managing the global financial system.
Today the largest IFI in the world is the European Investment Bank which lent 61 billion euros to global projects in 2011.
Some institutions were conceived and started working informally 2 decades before their legal inception (e.g. the South East Asian Central Banks Centre)