1970s - BROADENING OUR SCOPE
Decade 2
1970s — Broadening Our Scope
We expanded the range of our activities as we began to work with financial institutions and to offer standalone advisory services.
1971
IFC Capital Markets Department created to strengthen local banks, stock markets, and other financial institutions—which eventually become IFC’s largest area of emphasis. Watch video
1972
First advisory services: IFC sends two staff and 12 consultants to Jakarta for two years to help build the country’s first securities markets.
1972–1974
First field offices (Jakarta and Nairobi)
1973
First housing finance project: IFC becomes a founding shareholder in start-up Davivienda of Colombia, then adopts that same model in 1978 with HDFC in India. Both in time become industry leaders.
1974
Korea’s LG Electronics begins its international breakthrough with a $17.3 million IFC loan-and-advice package, soon becoming one of the first globally competitive firms from a developing country. IFC continues financing the company until 1998.
1976
First SME finance project: $2 million for Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) to on-lend to smaller local companies, with advisory services funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat. Seven years later, all 12 KCB subloans were fully repaid, financing the borrowing firms’ profitable expansion.
| GLOBAL CONTEXT |
|
1973: OPEC oil crisis begins vast wealth transfer to oil-producing nations
|
