Early Warning System

Countries

Albania

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Proposed

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."

Voting Date

Jul 19, 2023

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

Raiffeisen Bank Albania SHA

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.

Loan Amount (USD)

$ 54.62 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 50
Converted using 2023-06-19 exchange rate.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 54.62 million

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Jun 21, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Jun 19, 2023

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.

As stated by the EBRD, the project consists in the provision of a EUR 50 million senior preferred unsecured loan to Raiffeisen Bank Albania SHA (RBAL). The loan will have three tranches of up to EUR 20 million (Tranche A), EUR 10 million (Tranche B) and EUR 20 million (Tranche C). The EBRD loan is expected to mobilise additional senior preferred unsecured funding from an international investor.
The proposed Project aims to support the resilience and regulatory compliance of RBAL, a local systemic bank in Albania. The loan will also facilitate RBAL's expansion of lending to private small and medium-sized enterprises, including to businesses operating in less economically developed regions of the country. The bank will aim to allocate 20% of the proceeds to GET-eligible projects.

Investment Description

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

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

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.

Raiffeisen Bank Albania SHA (Financial Intermediary) is owned by Raiffeisen Bank International AG (Parent Company)

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 project disclosure, RBAL is an existing EBRD client since 2019 and a universal bank in Albania ranked third by assets (15.3% market share) and second by loans (16.8% market share) at 1Q2023. The bank is headquartered in Tirana and operates through 74 branches in 43 cities across Albania, and has one of the largest ATM networks in the country. RBAL is 100% owned subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International AG Austria which is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. RBI is rated A-/Negative by S&P and A2/Stable by Moody's.

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.

Financial Intermediary - Raiffeisen Bank Albania SHA:

Elona Llaci
Email: Elona.LLACI@raiffeisen.al
Website: https://www.raiffeisen.al/
Address: Raiffeisen Bank Albania, Kika 2, Tirana, Albania

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html