The Institute of Foreign Bankers claims that it has made great progress in cutting the costs of doing business in Japan and in promoting a valuable flow of information among members of the foreign banking community. It was formed in late 1984 as most of the foreign banks in Japan struggled to make ends meet in a rapidly changing financial environment.
The IFB was the idea of Bruce MacIlwaine, principal manager for Japan at Lloyds Bank International. On arriving from the US in 1982, he was surprised to find that in a market as complex as Japan's, there was no association of foreign bankers like those in many countries. "The fact is that however long you've been in banking internationally, Japan is pretty difficult to get a handle on,' said MacIlwaine. "I got the feeling that there really were quite a lot of areas where maybe we collectively could help one another.'
The idea of such an association had been bandied about for years, but it was opposed by some of the larger US banks. One American banker, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "Our view was that we don't need one body, one unified group, to be the representative for a whole gaggle of banks.