ABI SME RSF (IFC-41251)

Regions
  • Africa
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
Proposed
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."
Borrower
Atlantic Business International (ABI Group RSF)
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)
Not Disclosed
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 Feb 27, 2019

Disclosed by Bank May 16, 2018

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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 IFC website, the proposed project entails the provision of a 5-year Risk Sharing Facility in the amount of up to EUR40 million to cover eight subsidiaries of Atlantic Business International in IDA and FCS countries – namely Banque Atlantique Benin, Banque Atlantique Burkina Faso, Banque Atlantique Côte d’Ivoire, Banque Populaire Maroco-Guineenne in Guinea, Bank Atlantique Mali, Banque Atlantique du Niger, Banque Atlantique Senegal and Banque Atlantique Togo, together the Participating Affiliates for a target portfolio of SME loans in the amount of up to EUR80 million equivalent. Under this project, IFC will be supporting the expansion of ABI’s SME lending across Sub-Saharan Africa. 

The project aims to increase access to finance for SMEs. It seeks to foster banking sector inclusiveness across the countries where ABI is present by supporting the Group in its ambition to grow the amount of credit and types of banking products extended to SMEs. Increased access to finance is expected to help generate private sector growth by creating and/or maintaining employment opportunities. Further, ABI Group's alignment with IFC's environmental and social standards is expected to ultimately benefit the borrowing SMEs and the communities they operate in.

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.

ABI’s main shareholder is Banque Centrale Populaire (68.3%), a leading cooperative banking group headquartered in Casablanca, Morocco, with total assets of US$41 billion and consolidated shareholders’ equity of US$4.3 billion as of December 31, 2017. BCP is listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange since 2004. Other shareholders of ABI include London-based private equity firm Development Partners International (20.2%) and Atlantic Financial Group (11.5%).


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.

Borrower: Atlantic Business International
Habib Kone, CEO
Contact No.: +225 2020 1010
Office Address: 01 BP 2311, Abidjan 01Cote d’Ivoire
Website: www.banqueatlantique.net 

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