The International Finance Corporation is based in Washington, DC, where 55% of its staff work, and maintains 80 field offices throughout the world. While most of its projects are administered from its Washington headquarters, the IFC has several field-based initiatives like the Africa Enterprise Fund, a pilot program which provides smaller loans to local African enterprises. The IFC aims to increase the proportion of its activities administered from field offices.
Members
The IFC has 178 member countries with authorized share capital of $2.4 billion. To join the IFC, a country must first be a member of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). Each member government is a shareholder of the IFC, and the number of shares a country has is based roughly on the size of its economy. The United States is the largest single shareholder, with 23.66 percent of votes, followed by Japan (5.87 percent), Germany (5.36 percent), the United Kingdom (5.04 percent), and France (5.04 percent). Remaining shares are divided among the other member countries.
President and Vice-Presidencies
Currently, the IFC has five main Vice-Presidencies: Private Sector Development & IFC Chief Economist, Operations, Portfolio & Risk Management, Human Resources & Administration, Finance & Treasurer. Regional programs are included within the Operations and Portfolio & Risk Management Vice-Presidency.
IFC Executive Vice President is Lars Thunell. The President of World Bank, also serves as IFC President.
On March 30, 2006, IFC Executive Vice President Lars Thunell announced the reorganization of IFC senior management along regional and industry lines.
Board of Executive Directors
Although the IFC is legally separate from the World Bank, its Board of Directors is comprised of the same members as the World Bank’s Board, with slightly different voting shares. The President of the World Bank is also President of the IFC. The IFC's Board of Directors runs the day-to-day operations of the institution. The Executive Directors receive their power from the Board of Governors, which consists of one Governor from each member country. The Board reviews and approves the IFC's project financing operations, policies and strategies. Voting rights on the Board are allocated in proportion to the number of shares held by member countries.
Office of the Compliance Advisor/ Ombudsman
The Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) position was created in 1999 to improve the environmental and social performance of the IFC and MIGA and to address complaints of people affected by its projects. To fulfill this mandate, the CAO has the capacity to carry out compliance audits, investigate claims made regarding the impacts of IFC and CAO projects, facilitate mediation between the institutions and complainants, and provide independent advice to IFC and MIGA senior management. The CAO reports directly to the President of the World Bank Group, Paul Wolfowitz.
For complete information about the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman function, see BIC's CAO webpage (BIC website).
More information on the structure of the IFC: