 Nonetheless, it was the biggest known financer of coal projects among public institutions worldwide in 2016 and continues to finance coal up to the present(status 2019).Following the passage of the Japan Finance Corporation Law on May 18, 2007, during the 166th Ordinary Session of the Diet, the international financial operations (IFOs) of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) were merged with National Life Finance Corporation (NLFC), Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Finance Corporation (AFC), and Japan Finance Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprise (JASME) on October 1, 2008, to become a new policy-based financing institution, tentatively called Japan Finance Corporation (JFC).To maintain the international trust and confidence enjoyed by previous JBIC, the international finance sector of JFC continued to use the name "Japan Bank for International Cooperation".