BLC SME RSF (IFC-36295)

Countries
  • Lebanon
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
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
FI
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
Mar 15, 2016
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
BLC BANK SAL
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)
Guarantee
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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported
Converted using 2016-03-15 exchange rate.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 20.00 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported
Converted using 2016-03-15 exchange rate.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 31, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Nov 23, 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.

This project provides a risk guarantee to BLC Bank. With this guarantee, the project aims to encourage the bank to loan to small and medium sized businesses across Lebanon.

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

The proposed project is expected to have the following development impact:

(i) Enhance access to finance to underserved segments of the SME sector, such as women entrepreneurs and very small enterprises, thus enabling them to grow and expand their business and continue to play a key role in supporting Lebanon''s economic growth and job creation;
(ii) Support a local bank to maintain and expand its SME business market share. This is especially critical at this juncture given the uncertainties in the region and the economic slowdown in MENA and Europe, which is affecting Lebanon;
(iii) Attract private sector investment flows and promote SME finance as a viable asset class; and
(iv) Support the Bank in scaling up the SME sector especially small businesses, including very small and women-owned enterprises businesses, and to anchor its position in the market.

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.

Established in 1950, BLC Bank is a commercial bank in Lebanon headquartered in Beirut. The Bank offers a wide range of financial products and services to corporate, retail, and SME segments through a well-established and growing network of 41 branches across Lebanon, a representative office in Abu Dhabi, UAE and 14 branches in Cyprus through its wholly owned subsidiary USB Bank plc.


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.

Mr. Hani Hoyek
Head of Strategic Development – BLC Bank
Address: BLC Bank Building, Adlieh Square
2064-5809 Beirut, Lebanon
Telephone: +961-1-387000 Ext. 1328
E-mail: mailto:Hani.Hoyek@blcbank.com

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

How it works

How it works