Financial intermediary funds are more flexible and complex financing mechanisms that—with rare exception—support global or regional partnerships. For this type of trust fund, the bank negotiates a customised agreement with implementing agencies, which generally makes the bank trustee of funds from multiple donors.4 9 12 In some cases, the bank’s role is restricted to holding, receiving, and transferring commitments on behalf of legally independent implementing agencies (for example, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), while in others the bank is both trustee of and major donor to the fund (for example, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control). Finally, IFC trust funds typically finance advisory services to businesses and governments, as part of its institutional mandate to promote private sector investment in developing countries. An example is the $1bn Health in Africa Initiative, which is designed to channel funds for private health facilities and healthcare delivery and has received donor support through small trust funds and a large private equity fund.13 14