JSC MFO CRYSTAL (FMO-51156)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Georgia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Kutaisi
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
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
Mar 28, 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
JSC Microfinance Organization Cyrstal
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
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)
$ 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.
Loan 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.
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Dec 19, 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 FMO, to support Crystal's growth, FMO / MASSIF have extended a loan to Crystal. This project is fully in line with FMO's strategy of increasing our impact in Georgia through growing our client base with selected second tier banks and larger MFIs. By supporting Crystal, FMO contributes to improving access to finance for Georgian micro businesses, especially in rural areas. Crystal’s inclusive mission and activities fit well within the new Massif’s strategy and focus themes. A part of the funding will be used for green lines.

 

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.

As stated by the FMO, due to its microfinance activities, Crystal is exposed to limited Environmental and Social risks as a result of small loan sizes. Crystal has an Exclusion List and a Social and an Environmental Policy in place. A dedicated Social Responsibility Officer is responsible for its implementation who reports directly to the Chief Operations Officer, who is also in charge of Credit. The Social Policy and its implementation is rather successful to improve the organizations performance in reaching its social objectives, both with respect to its customers, its employees and its communities. The SR Officer undertakes regular environmental impact assessment for key sectors financed by Crystal.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Fund: MASSIF

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.

According to FMO website, JSC Microfinance Organization Crystal (Crystal) is Georgia’s fourth largest microfinance lender with 60 thousand customers, 36 branches and a loan portfolio of USD 60m. Headquartered in Kutaisi, a regional city in the northwest of Georgia, it has a strong outreach in the country’s rural areas (>60 percent of loan portfolio), especially in its home region.
Crystal is growing quickly, both in balance sheet size and in outreach. It is expanding its branch network, mainly in rural areas elsewhere in the country, which should lead to a doubling of its loan portfolio by 2020. In parallel, the company is improving operational efficiency and strengthening the organization.


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.

No project contact information provided at the time of disclosure.

Financial Intermediary - JSC MFO Crystal:

Address: 118 Akaki Tsereteli Avenue, Tbilisi
Phone: +995 (32) 2 02 20 20
Email: ir@crystal.ge
Website: https://ir.crystal.ge/

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF FMO

Communities who believe they will be negatively affected by a project funded by the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) may be able to file a complaint with the Independent Complaints Mechanism, which is the joint independent accountability mechanism of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the German Investment Corporation (KfW) . A complaint can be filed in writing, by email, post, or online. The complaint can be filed in English or any other language of the complainant. The Independent Complaints Mechanism is comprised of a three-member Independent Expert Panel and it can provide either problem-solving, compliance review or both, in either order. Additional information about this accountability mechanism, including a guide and template for filing a complaint, can be found at: https://www.fmo.nl/independent-complaints-mechanism.

How it works

How it works