AZE: Improving Financial Service Outreach for Agriculture - AccessBank Azerbaijan (ADB-49093-001)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Azerbaijan
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
Apr 22, 2015
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
AccessBank Azerbaijan
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)
$ 75.00 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)
$ 75.00 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 Jun 4, 2024

Disclosed by Bank May 13, 2015

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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 ADB website, the loan will support farm investments and working capital and enterprises operating in the agriculture value chain through Access Bank Azerbaijan (ABA). ADB funding will improve rural income generation and livelihood in Azerbaijan. With only 16% of credit flowing to Azerbaijans regions, and only 5% to agriculture, finance is largely unavailable in rural Azerbaijan. Agriculture is fragmented into 1.2 million small farms employing 38% of the working population and contributing only 6.2% to GDP (2013). However, agriculture witnessed robust growth of 4% p.a. over the past decade and has substantial growth potential to meet growing domestic and import demand for food (fruits, vegetables and dairy products). Farms and MSMEs are the most important source for employment and income generation in the regions. Lack of funding is one of the main reasons limiting their growth.

The expected outcome is improved ability of ABA to provide financial services to farmers, and agriculture MSMEs.

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 ADB categorized the project risks as follows:
Environment - FI;
Involuntary Resettlement - FI-C;
Indigenous Peoples - FI-C.

As stated on the project disclosure page:
ABA will apply ADB's prohibited investment activities list; exclude subloans categorized A for environment; ensure that investments using ADB funds abide by applicable national laws and regulations, as well as ADB Safeguard Policy Statement (2009);
ABA will apply ADB's prohibited investment activities list; exclude subloans categorized A or B for involuntary resettlement; ensure that investments using ADB funds abide by applicable national laws and regulations, as well as ADB Safeguard Policy Statement (2009);
ABA will apply ADB's prohibited investment activities list; exclude subloans categorized A or B for indigenous peoples; ensure that investments using ADB funds abide by applicable national laws and regulations, as well as ADB Safeguard Policy Statement (2009).

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.

As stated on the company's website, AccessBank Azerbaijan is "one of the leading financial institutions in Azerbaijan".

The company's LinkedIn profile states that "AccessBank focuses on micro and small business because this sector is vital for the development and diversification of Azerbaijan's economy, the creation of jobs and the elimination of poverty."


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.

Project Officer: Hruschka, Stefan A.
Private Sector Operations Department
No contact information provided at the time of disclosure.

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