PSBLI Jordan Ahli Bank (DFC-2024-PSBLIJORDANAH)

Countries
  • Palestine, West Bank, Gaza
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
West Bank
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
  • US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Active
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."
Borrower
Middle East Investment Initiative (“MEII”); Jordan Ahli Bank (“JAB”)
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)
$ 17.00 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)
$ 193.70 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
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Mar 21, 2025

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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 involves the provision of loan guaranty and financial lease guaranty facility for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (“MSMEs”) operating in and households located in the West Bank.

By partnering with local lenders and lessors to de-risk financing MSMEs, the Project will not only increase access to finance in the short term but will increase local financial institutions’ confidence in future lending to this enterprise segment. DFC technical assistance (“TA”), operating in coordinating with MEII’s existing TA program, will support both the partner financial institutions (“FIs”) and MSMEs. The Project is particularly expected to benefit women-owned enterprises through the adoption of strong gender targets, partnership with new FIs targeting women borrowers, and business development support to women micro entrepreneurs. Additionally, the Project will expand eligibility for coverage to home improvement loans for the first time, expected to represent 15% of the guaranty cover.

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.

DFC loan portfolio guarantees for financial intermediaries to expand their MSME portfolio are screened as a Financial Intermediary C (FI-C) for environmental and social assessment. These downstream investments are expected to result in minimal adverse environmental and social impacts. Therefore, all those downstream investments have been pre-screened as low risk and further review and consent is not required for these investments.

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

$150 million (12-year total facility tenor, 8-year downstream loan origination period), $17 million (JAB allocation)

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.

Middle East Investment Initiative - MEII is a non-profit organization that leverages public and private resources to deliver finance and technical assistance programs.

Jordan Ahli Bank was established in 1955 in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and thereafter has grown to become one of the main market players in the Jordanian financial sector. The Bank ranks as the 7th largest conventional bank in Jordan by total assets as of year-end 2022, serving corporate, SMEs and retail segments in addition to providing investment banking services. Other services are provided by the Bank through its fully owned specialized subsidiaries include financial leasing, microfinance, brokerage services, and investments in fintech focused companies. JAB is a publicly listed company on Amman Stock Exchange since 1996. The main shareholders include Al-Mouasher family (with a direct shareholding of 13.3%), Byblos Bank (with a direct shareholding of 10.4%), Jordan Social Security Corporation (with a direct shareholding of 10.3%), Jordan Worsted Mills Company (with a total shareholding of 9.0%) and Jordan Investor Center Company (with a direct shareholding of 5.0%). The remaining shareholding of 52.0% is distributed among several shareholders, having, each, a shareholding below 1.5%.


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

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability

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