BoP Sub-Debt (IFC-37270)

Countries
  • Palestine, West Bank, Gaza
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
Jan 5, 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
BANK OF PALESTINE PLC
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.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Aug 1, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Dec 4, 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 finances assistance to Bank of Palestine in order to strengthen its capital base and help maintain its position as the market leader in West Bank and Gaza. This includes helping it to strengthen its risk management framework, corporate governance, and develop new products to expand access to finance and banking services for small and medium-size enteprises and women.

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

This project comprises of an investment in the form of a sub-debt of up to US$75 million to Bank of Palestine qualifying as Basel II-Tier II capital with a tenor of 10 years including a grace period of 5 years. BoP was one of the first banks to be established in Gaza in 1960. BoP is currently the largest national bank in WB&G operating as a universal bank with the largest network of 56 branches and offers a broad range of products and services to corporate, Small and Medium Enterprises, retail and micro customers. The Bank is listed on Palestine Securities Exchange with the main shareholder, the Shawa family, directly owning 25.7% of BoP’s capital. Other major shareholders include Palestine Investment Fund, Blakeney Investment Fund (UK-Based), Qais al-Ghanim Group (Kuwait) and IFC. IFC first investment in BoP was in 2008, where IFC invested US$12.5 million for 5% stake in the bank. Thereafter, IFC entered into a US$8 million trade finance line and two advisory projects aimed at establishing Bank's risk management framework, creating Corporate Governance code and developing new products.

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.

Bank of Palestine was one of the first banks to be established in Gaza in 1960. BoP is currently the largest national bank in WB&G operating as a universal bank with the largest network of 56 branches and offers a broad range of products and services to corporate, Small and Medium Enterprises, retail and micro customers.

The Bank is listed on Palestine Securities Exchange with the main shareholder, the Shawa family, directly owning 25.7% of BoP’s capital. Other major shareholders include Palestine Investment Fund, Blakeney Investment Fund (UK-Based), Qais al-Ghanim Group (Kuwait) and IFC.


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.

Hashim Shawa
Bank of Palestine
General Management Head Office
P.O. Box 471, Ramallah, Palestine
Telephone: +970 2 2970990
Fax: +970 2 2970980

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/

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How it works