The World Bank is probably the most famous international financial institution in the world. It lends money to poor and middle-income countries. It allows them to borrow money as cheaply as possible to fund major projects such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education. So, that must mean the world bank has lots of money in the vault, right? And if so, could someone actually rob it?
It is not possible to rob the World Bank. The World Bank is an international financial institution, not a commercial bank. The World Bank does not have vaults where large amounts of cash are stored. Essentially, there isn’t anything to steal if you broke into the World Bank.
…but that’s just an overview. To fully understand why a robber couldn’t break in and steal from the World Bank, we need to look in a bit more detail.
Could The World Bank Be Robbed?
The first question we need to ask in order to understand if it possible for someone to rob the World Bank is could it actually be done?
The World Bank cannot be broken into and robbed. It is also not possible to hold-up the World Bank and steal the money from the vault. This is because the World Bank is an international financial institution, and not an actual bank.
Established in 1944, the World Bank is one of the world’s largest financial institutions. Based in Washington DC in the US, the Bank lends money to the governments of developing countries, allowing them to borrow money at below market rates. The World Bank is part of the group of Bretton Wood institutions and is one part of the United Nations.
The World Bank isn’t really a bank, at least not in the conventional sense. It doesn’t have branches, customers, tills, vaults or large reserves of cash or gold. The World Bank is a financial institution. Essentially, it a group of office buildings… not a bank.
As the World Bank isn’t actually a bank, it cannot be robbed like one. There is no bank building storing large amounts of cash that can be held up and the vault emptied.
Has The World Bank Ever Been Robbed?
The next thing we need to consider when discussing if the World Bank could be robbed is has there been a time in history when someone has been able to break into the World Bank and steal money?
The World Bank has never been robbed. There have also been no attempts in history to try and steal money from the World Bank.
As we’ve said, the World Bank isn’t a bank in the traditional sense. It does not have a premises that stores large amounts of cash. There are not branches or vaults. Therefore, it is not possible to rob the World Bank in the same way a normal bank could be. This is the main reason why there has never been an attempt to rob the World Bank ever.
How Would Someone Rob The World Bank?
Ok, so we know it is not possible to rob the World Bank, we also know that in the history of the World Bank there has never been a robbery and there has never been an attempt either. With that established, let’s do a thought experiment and think about how someone might break into the World Bank, if it was possible to do so…
The World Bank does not hold money like a regular bank and therefore cannot be robbed. The World Bank’s financial reserves are held in investments, are given by member states, or are raised on the financial market.
The money the World Bank uses to lend to developing countries is not held in a vault like a regular bank. The World Bank’s financial reserves are held in a mixture of investments. Funds are also raised on the financial market as well as by contributions from member states.
In order to rob the World Bank, someone would need to break into the Banks offices in Washington DC. Here they could steal computers, phones and any petty cash that was held on the premises. However, breaking into the World Bank’s offices essentially wouldn’t be any different to breaking into any other large office building.
The other option for robbing the World Bank would be to hack into its computer system. However, as the World Bank doesn’t hold digital financial reserves, there would be little that could be stolen in the way of money. The most valuable thing that could be stolen by hacking into the World Bank’s computer software is data. However, data stolen from the World Bank would actually be less valuable than data stolen from a regular commercial bank as it would not contain people’s personal financial information.
How Does The World Stop Robbers?
Finally, let’s think about how the World Bank stops people from robbing it. We know that it is not possible to steal the money the World Bank holds, and that there has never been an attempt to do so, but how does the World Bank actually stop people from stealing from it?
The World Bank does not hold financial assets such as cash that can be stolen, therefore it does not have protections like a regular bank. As an international financial institution, the World Bank has a range of security measures including digital protections and compliance regulations to stop thefts.
As we’ve established, the World Bank does not hold physical or digital cash and therefore cannot be robbed like a commercial bank could.
Although a thief can’t steal from the World Bank as they could from a regular bank, the World Bank still needs to protect its data, assets, and investments. The World Bank will likely have a team dedicated to both the physical security of their buildings, assets, and personnel, as well as team specialising in digital security.
Essentially, the World Bank would stop thieves in similar ways to major government agencies or large international companies.