"In its early decades, the IMF was the house bank of advanced economy members of the Bretton Woods system. It largely did not lend to developing countries. Then, in the 1970s and 80s, as Bretton Woods collapsed and global capital flows surged, it became a firefighting organisation dealing with debt crises in Latin America and the developing world. Money flowed from north to south, but it was no secret that what was at stake were the fortunes of systemically important banks in the north."

https://www.ft.com/content/bd95f714-dc1c-4ee0-ba1b-af89c224c9ff