FRB SME Loan (IFC-51710)

Countries
  • South Africa
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
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
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
Jul 2, 2025
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
FirstRand Bank Limited
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)
$ 100.00 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 Oct 25, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Sep 18, 2025

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Contact the EWS Team

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.

According to the Bank’s website, the proposed investment consists of a senior unsecured loan of up to US$100 million to FirstRand Bank Limited (FRB), an existing IFC client, under the MSME Finance Platform-SME Envelope for a maturity of up to 5 years.  The Platform’s SME Envelope seeks to address financial inclusion gaps, with a focus on reaching priority small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) segments, including women entrepreneurs, businesses in agriculture (Agri-SMEs), and supporting SME climate financing by providing medium- and long-term loans to eligible financial service providers. FirstRand Bank (FRB or the Bank) is a key strategic partner to IFC in South Africa, and the proposed project meets the IFC SME eligibility criteria for the country.                                                  

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 Project will support FNB’s lending program to SME segments, including women entrepreneurs, businesses in agriculture (agri-SMEs), and SME climate financing. The overall E&S risk of activities to be supported by IFC are considered to be medium and can be readily addressed through mitigation measures. Therefore, the Project has been categorized as FI-2 in accordance with IFC's Sustainability Policy.

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

The proposed Project involves a senior loan of US$100 million for IFC’s own account, under the MSME Finance Platform-SME Envelope for a maturity of up to 5 years. It will allow the Bank to expand its lending to the underserved SME sector. 

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.

FirstRand Bank Limited provides a comprehensive range of retail, commercial, corporate and investment banking services in South Africa and offers niche products in certain international markets. The Bank has three major divisions, which are separately branded: First National Bank (FNB), WesBank, and Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). FRB is wholly owned by FirstRand Limited (FirstRand), a leading financial institution in Africa. FirstRand is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Namibian Stock Exchange. As of June 2024, the Public Investment Corporation held 14.7% of FirstRand’s shares and no other shareholder held more than 5%. Direct corporate shareholders included Royal Bafokeng Holdings and Remgro, holding together 4.2%. FRB is the largest operating subsidiary of FirstRand.


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.

FirstRand Bank Limited
Cameron Gough
FirstRand Group Treasury
Cameron.gough@firstrand.co.za
4 Merchant Place, Corner Fredman and Rivonia Road, Sandton, 2196 South Africa
www.firstrand.co.za

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