Inter-bank association within SCO

The Inter-bank Association (IBA) of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) was founded by the SCO Inter-bank Co-operation (Association) Agreement of October 26, 2005. The association was created following a 2004 decision by the SCO Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) to form the SCO Development Fund. The differences in the approach among members led to the acceptance of the Russian suggestion to combine two simultaneous work streams including the creation of the Development Fund and the so-called "bank pool" which was later transformed into the IBA.

Kazakhstan was the chairing country until November 26 2008, when the Russian Federation took over this function in the IBA Council, which is the association's steering agency.

During the IBA Council meeting on June 14, 2006 in Shanghai, a number of documents were signed to lay the legal foundation for the association's effective functioning, including the Statement on SCO IBA Council, Guidelines for development and management of SCO IBA new initiatives bank, and framework principles for the issue of credit facilities between SCO IBA member banks. Additionally, IBA representatives signed an action plan to support economic cooperation between SCO IBA member banks.

On August 16, 2007, on the sidelines of the SCO Heads of State Council meeting, the IBA and the SCO Business Council, a non-government organisation of business circles from the member states, signed a Cooperation Agreement which provides for a unified database of investment projects suggested for joint implementation within the Organisation, business offers exchange, information management coordination for broad and unbiased coverage of the economic partnerships within the SCO, and economist training cooperation.

During the Dushanbe Summit on August 28, 2008, a memorandum was signed on the main principles of cooperation between SCO IBA and the Eurasian Development Bank.