Our Funding

We raise capital through bond issuances in international capital markets to fund loans to clients and maintain our financial strength.

A consistent triple-A credit rating based on excellent financial performance has assisted in building significant and distinct name recognition in the marketplace for IFC. Since first being rated in 1989, IFC has been rated triple-A every year by Standard and Poor's and by Moody's. Our high credit rating is essential for maintaining our ability to access markets globally and to maintain our low cost of funding.

IFC is an active issuer of ESG bonds also known as Socially Responsible Investments. A subset of our loan portfolio is funded through our established Green Bond program which finances climate friendly projects and our Social Bond Program which finances projects that aim to alleviate social issues. Both programs are fully aligned to the capital markets’ most referenced frameworks: The Green Bond Principles and The Social Bond Principles. 

Under our funding program, IFC issues bonds in a variety of markets, formats, and currencies—including global benchmarks bonds, green and social bonds, uridashi notes, private placements, and discount notes. In addition, IFC issues local-currency bonds to develop domestic capital markets and facilitate local-currency lending.

Besides raising capital through bond issuance, we invest our liquid assets globally and manage them versus recognized industry benchmarks. We aim to outperform those targets while preserving capital and ensuring funds are available as needed for our private sector investments in developing countries.

We also manage currency and interest rate risks of assets and liabilities on IFC's funded balance sheet within prudent risk limits. This allows us to tailor risk management and loan products to the needs of IFC's clients while hedging the resulting market risks.