The legal personality of World Bank funds under international law

Trust funds administered or created by the World Bank Group have assumed a variety of forms. While the World Bank as trustee has focused on its duties and liability it has given little, or no, attention to the legal personality of funds under its control. This has allowed the funders and their legal advisors space to be creative and entrepreneurial, particularly since neither the trustee nor the donors/funders showed any intention of endowing trust funds with any particular rights under international law or international legal personality. As a result, funds have through their own initiatives assumed various forms of legal personality, ranging from mere bank accounts to fully-fledged intergovernmental organizations. In some cases, the principal organs of funds entered into agreements with states and negotiated ad hoc privileges and immunities, and in one case a fund even managed to come under the wing of an existing inter-governmental organization, which in turn conferred all its own privileges and immunities to it. Practice suggests that funds can yield sufficient political power in international relations on the basis of their capital, which makes them attractive partners for other entities. This allows them to shape their international legal personality according to their particular needs.