Early Warning System

Countries

Fiji

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

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."

Borrower

Merchant Finance Pte. 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)

$ 4.00 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)

$ 4.00 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

ADB, Merchant Finance Sign Agreement to Support Inclusive Finance in Fiji

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Mar 24, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Sep 18, 2024

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
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 project consists of a loan agreement to boost access to finance for women-owned and led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Fiji.

The agreement comprises a local currency loan of $4 million from ADB, supplemented by a grant from the Women Entrepreneurs' Finance Initiative (We-FI). Notably, 75% of the proceeds will be dedicated to empowering women-owned and led SMEs.

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

Investment Description

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

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Loan (Ordinary capital resources): USD 4.00 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.

Merchant Finance Pte. Limited (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.

Merchant Finance Pte Limited (MFL) is a credit institution licensed by Reserve Bank of Fiji and offers financial products such as Loans and Term Deposits.

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.