SLGP NBS (IFC-46798)

Countries
  • Samoa
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
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
FI
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
May 15, 2023
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
NBS SLGP
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 Amount (USD)
$ 10.00 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 19, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Apr 14, 2023

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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.

As stated by the IFC, the proposed investment consists of an unfunded Risk Sharing Facility (RSF) with a maturity of up to 8 years in an amount of up to US$4 million equivalent in Samoan Tala that may be committed in two equal tranches. The RSF will cover up to 50% of the risk on a portfolio of small and medium enterprises (SME) loans to be originated by National Bank of Samoa (the Bank), including loans to women-owned/led SME (WSME) and SMEs in the agriculture sector, in an amount of up to US$8 million equivalent to help the Bank scale up its relevant lending portfolios in Samoa.
The RSF is proposed to be processed under IFC’s Small Loan Guarantee Program, which is supported by the IDA18 IFC-MIGA Private Sector Window’s Blended Finance Facility. Proposed investment will be accompanied by a trade finance guarantee facility of up to US$2 million under IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP) with tenor of up to 12 months to support cross border trade financing for local exporters/importers.
In addition to the RSF and GTFP components, the investment is under consideration to potentially be supported by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) in the form of a performance-based incentive, should the Bank achieve strong growth in lending to WSMEs. We-Fi is a collaborative partnership among 14 governments, six multilateral development banks and other public and private sector stakeholders, hosted by the World Bank Group. It seeks to address financial and non-financial constraints faced by women-owned small and medium enterprises around the world. IDA PSW BFF and We-Fi’s support would enable IFC to rapidly roll out a program of risk sharing facilities to reach underserved SME segment of the market including women SMEs/VSEs that are otherwise not commercially bankable.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The IFC categorized the project as environmental risk FI-2.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

From the IFC's website:

Founded in 1995, the Bank is one of two locally owned commercial banks in Samoa. The Bank is owned by over seventy shareholders, largely individuals and family companies in Samoa.


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.

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384

Financial Intermediary - National Bank of Samoa Limited:

Sam Swann - Chief Executive Officer
Phone: +685 7702222
Email: sswann@nbsamoa.com
Address: Upolu Level 1 ACC Building, Apia, Samoa
Website: https://www.nbsamoa.com/ 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

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