The recent establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has been a significant development in the world of international financial institutions, in particular as a result of the surprising amount of support from countries across the world. The AIIB, after its establishment, has often been defined as a Chinese version of either the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Although the AIIB does indeed resemble these older financial institutions, defining the AIIB as a Chinese World Bank or ADB does not take into account several of the distinct characteristics of the AIIB, and is therefore an over-simplified definition. This paper attempts to provide a more suitable definition of the AIIB which can take into account the distinct characteristics of the AIIB. It is discussed how the AIIB differs from the older institutions; the World Bank and the ADB, and how these differences might prove to be significant. The World Bank and the ADB are still facing major difficulties, partly as a result of their structure. In this paper it is discussed how the different identity of the AIIB might provide a solution to some of these issue; how the AIIB has learned from the mistakes and problems of the older institutions, and how the AIIB structure might therefore be more suitable for a development institution operating in the twenty first century