The history of World Bank dates back to the Second World War which was formed to rebuild a devastated Europe in the year 1944. The bank has the authoritiy to take measures against poverty alleviation, debt management and structural adjustment. Now it can work to achieve the Millenium Development Goals which call for implementation of sustainable development. Over the years, the bank’s authority has increased to aid developing countries. It helps countries to develop an environemnt for investment, jobs and sustainable growth thus promoting economical growth through investment and empowerment of the poor to enable them to participate in development.

The World Bank Group consists of:

• The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), established in 1945, which provides debt financing on the basis of sovereign guarantees;

• The International Finance Corporation (IFC), established in 1956, which provides various forms of financing without sovereign guarantees, primarily to the private sector;

• The International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, which provides concessional financing (interest-free loans or grants), usually with sovereign guarantees;

• The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), established in 1988, which provides insurance against certain types of risk, including political risk, aw primarily to the private sector; and,

• The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), established in 1966, which works with governments to reduce investment risk.
Robert Zoellick was selected as the president of the World Bank back in July 2007 and is still in office. Vinod Thomas is serving as the Director General evaluation of the bank since the year 2005. Officials at the bank hold five factors necessary for economic growth and the creation of business environment, which are as under:

• Building capacity by strengthening governments and educating government officials
• Creating infrastructure
• Developing financial systems of micro credit and larger corporate financing
• Fighting corruption
• Conducting research, providing training and consultancy

With all its constructive features, the World Bank is authorized to initiate development projects with permission of the local bodies of a nation that needs development. It can ask for security measures and other grants for governments both domestic and local to smoothly continue its operations. The bank is also authorized to carry out and probe indepth research into issues faced by a nation so that it can provide solutions to them.  Once an issue is highlighted the bank can then look for ways to resolve it by all means. The bank extends loans and financing facilities to these developing nations for the solutions of certain problems. Two main types of loans are provide by World Bank namely, investment loans and development policy loans. Investment loans are designed for the support of economic and social development projects while the development policy loans are meant specifically for quick disbursal of finance in order to support a country’s policy and institutional reforms.

The World Bank Treasury offers services in four main areas that include: Banking products, public debt management, asset management and capital markets and risk management. Banking products contain hedging products, loans and guarantees. Strategic asset allocation, implementation of index, enhanced index and active protfolios are counterparts of the asset management offered by the bank. Developing and under developed nations look upto the bank for financial help and support in times of disaster. Not only that, nations look upto the bank for debt consolidation when they are under debt of other nations.