Illicit financial flows (IFFs) drain resources from developing economies on a scale that exceeds the official development assistance they receive, and the recovery of stolen assets has become a recognised target of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This article examines the role of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in curbing IFFs and facilitating asset recovery. It first clarifies the concept and measurement of IFFs on the basis of the UNCTAD–UNODC statistical framework and the most recent empirical estimates. It then analyses the instruments deployed by the World Bank – the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, its knowledge products, the Global Forum on Asset Recovery and financial integrity assistance – and by the IMF, whose anti-money laundering strategy, governance framework, financial sector assessments and programme conditionality operate on the preventive side of the same problem. Using the Abacha, 1MDB and Ukrainian experiences, the article evaluates the achievements and structural limits of these institutions and proposes measures to strengthen their contribution, including the integration of asset recovery into country engagement, coordinated support for beneficial ownership transparency and the regulation of virtual assets, and targeted assistance to states such as Uzbekistan that are building national asset recovery systems.