The US-led Safehaven Program was launched during the United Nations Conference at Bretton Woods in July 1944, the same venue that prepared the ground for the modern World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The program provided for immediate measures to prevent any disposition, transfer, or concealment of looted gold or other assets, to deny any safe haven for Nazi looted assets in neutral countries, and for the eventual return of looted artefacts to their original owners. Most neutrals were eventually persuaded to reduce and end trade with Germany.