Alpha Bank RO (IFC-38414)

Countries
  • Romania
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Active
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Feb 6, 2017
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
ALPHA BANK ROMANIA SA
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 53.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Apr 4, 2017

Disclosed by Bank Dec 10, 2016


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.
The proposed project consists of an up to EUR50 million senior loan to Alpha Bank Romania S.A. (“ABR” or the “Bank”), in order to support on-lending to residential mortgage borrowers in Romania. The Bank was established in 1993 and now is the eighth largest bank in the country, with total assets of EUR3.3 billion and equity of EUR319 million as of the end of December 2015. ABR is a universal bank, with a market share of 4% by total assets and 8% for mortgage loans. It currently employs approximately 1,900 staff and has a national network of 130 branches in Romania.
People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.
1. Contribution to economic growth through improved access to finance by individuals to buy or improve homes: Expanded financial intermediation is needed to support the flow of credit to individuals. 2. Create more job opportunities: By providing mortgage loans supported by IFC funding, the Bank will contribute to the development of the housing sector, which in turn creates jobs in the construction and other supporting industries. 3. Increasing financial inclusion in Romania: Access to credit and increasing the economic power of sub-borrowers would translate into improved livelihoods for a wide cross-section of society. 4. Sustaining the banking system: IFC is helping improve the sustainability of Alpha Bank in Romania, which would become less reliant on the Greek parent bank.
Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Alpha Bank A.E. Greece (“ABG”) currently owns 99.9% of ABR's share capital. Headquartered in Athens, ABG was founded in 1879 by the Costopoulos family. ABG is one of the top four banks in Greece in terms of asset size, offering a wide range of services including corporate, SME, retail banking, asset management, investment banking, private banking, brokerage, leasing and factoring services. The Group employs 14,000 staff at a network of around 900 branches in the region. Alpha Bank Group also operates in Cyprus, Romania, Serbia and Albania through wholly owned subsidiaries. ABG is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange and its ownership is widespread. At June 30, 2016 its shareholder base includes approximately 125,000 investors. Following the latest capital increase in December 2015, to which IFC also participated, largest publicly announced institutional shareholders are Credit Agricole, Paulson and Co, EBRD and IFC.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.
ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

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How it works