CARD Promoting Access to Finance for Low-Income Microborrowers Project (ADB-54050-001)

Countries
  • Philippines
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
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
Jun 15, 2021
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
Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Inc.
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)
$ 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.
Project Cost (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.
Bank Documents
Media Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Mar 22, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Oct 11, 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.

According to the Bank’s website, the project consists of a senior unsecured loan in Philippine peso equivalent of up to $10,000,000 to the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Inc. (CARD) for the Promoting Access to Finance for Low-Income Microborrowers Project in the Philippines.

ADB’s loan to CARD will assist with implementing measures under a gender action plan (GAP) in the Philippines to further expand access to credit for women.

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.

Environment: FI-C
Involuntary Resettlement: FI-C
Indigenous Peoples: FI-C

The business activities of CARD have minimal or no adverse environmental impacts.

The on-lending activities of CARD are unlikely to entail involuntary resettlement impacts. CARD offers loans to micro-borrowers engaged in backyard agriculture and micro to small enterprises providing goods and services within their communities.

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

Loan (Ordinary capital resources): USD 10.00 million

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.

Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Inc. - CARD is a nonstock, nonprofit organization established as a nongovernment organization (NGO). It is part of the CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institution (MRI) group of companies and is the flagship business of the group.

CARD has grown into one of the country’s most prominent MFIs. It provides access to credit for microenterprises in the Philippines including in the remote provinces of Visayas and Mindanao. It offers microloans to support the livelihood activities of low-income and underserved women and extreme poor micro borrowers. In recent years, CARD has started providing loans to the spouses of female borrowers working in the agriculture sector.


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 contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.adb.org/forms/request-information-form

ADB has a two-stage appeals process for requesters who believe that ADB has denied their request for information in violation of its Access to Information Policy. You can learn more about filing an appeal at: https://www.adb.org/site/disclosure/appeals

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main.

How it works

How it works