BRAC Women Banking (IFC-39516)

Countries
  • Bangladesh
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
Jun 21, 2017
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
BRAC Bank Limited
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)
$ 50.00 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 3, 2018

Disclosed by Bank May 16, 2017

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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.

The proposed $50 Mn project is to initiate the Banking on Women (BOW) program in Bangladesh with the association of BRAC Bank Ltd. (“BRAC Bank” or the “Bank”), which is a SME focused bank in Bangladesh. This project is a strong fit to IFC’s Bangladesh strategic pillar of Inclusion and Gender. It is also the first such project in Bangladesh. Banking on Women program will respond to the large unmet demand for financial services for women in Bangladesh, particularly women-owned SMEs. BRAC Bank was founded in 2001 and is the second largest private lender in the SME segment in Bangladesh. The bank has total assets of USD 3.4 Bn as on December 31, 2016.

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

BRAC Bank’s Board is led by Chairman Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG. Sir Abed is the Founder and Chairperson of BRAC. Among the Bank’s 8 directors, 3 are independent directors. Among the 3 independent directors, there is Dr. Ahsan H Mansur, a noted economist, Ms. Zahida Ispahani, a former secretary of United Women’s Association in Bangladesh and Mr. Kazi Mahmood Sattar has over 32 years of experience in local and international banks. He led The City Bank Limited and Eastern Bank Limited as the Managing Director & CEO for 13 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of RSA Advisory Limited, an asset management company and Partner of RSA Capital, a boutique investment bank. The rest of the Board consist of nominated directors.

BRAC Enterprises is the major shareholder with 44.56%. Institutions and General Public hold 53.07% of BRAC Bank and the rest of the shareholding is held by Mutual Funds and Non resident Bangladeshis.

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.

BRAC Bank was founded in 2001 and is the second largest private lender in the SME segment in Bangladesh. The bank has total assets of USD 3.4 Bn as on December 31, 2016.

BRAC Bank’s Board is led by Chairman Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG. Sir Abed is the Founder and Chairperson of BRAC. Among the Bank’s 8 directors, 3 are independent directors. Among the 3 independent directors, there is Dr. Ahsan H Mansur, a noted economist, Ms. Zahida Ispahani, a former secretary of United Women’s Association in Bangladesh and Mr. Kazi Mahmood Sattar has over 32 years of experience in local and international banks. He led The City Bank Limited and Eastern Bank Limited as the Managing Director & CEO for 13 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of RSA Advisory Limited, an asset management company and Partner of RSA Capital, a boutique investment bank. The rest of the Board consist of nominated directors.

BRAC Enterprises is the major shareholder with 44.56%. Institutions and General Public hold 53.07% of BRAC Bank and the rest of the shareholding is held by Mutual Funds and Non resident Bangladeshis.


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.

BRAC Bank Limited
Md. Shaheen Iqbal
Head of Treasury and Financial Institutions
shaheen.iqbal@bracbank.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/

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How it works