Simple Credit Loan (IFC-42086)

Countries
  • China
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."
Voting Date
May 22, 2020
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
SIMPLECREDIT MICRO-LENDING COMPANY 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)
$ 80.00 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.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 80.00 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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 80.00 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 Apr 7, 2020

Disclosed by Bank Mar 31, 2020

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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 the bank document, "the proposed investment entails a 3-year financing package to Simple Credit Micro-Lending Co., Ltd. (“Simple Credit”, or the “Company”), a microfinance company holding internet lending license (“Internet MCC”) in China. The proposed IFC financing aims to support Simple Credit to grow its digital agriculture lending (“Digital Agri-lending”) business primarily in frontier regions of China and to promote access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (“MSMEs”) along the agriculture supply chain.

Simple Credit is headquartered in Chongqing, China. The loan proceeds of the proposed investment will mainly be used to support the Company’s digital agri-lending program primarily in frontier regions across the country.  "

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

"The proposed investment is an up to US$80 million financing package to Simple Credit, consisting of IFC A loan of up to US$50 million; and syndicated portion of up to US$30 million or equivalent."

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.

Simple Credit is 90% owned by Martin Lee (Lee Ka-Shing) and 10% owned by Joseph Tse (Tse Lap Bun). Martin Lee is a co-Chairman of Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd. (“HLD”, a Hong Kong listed property developer with market capitalization of US$23.8 billion).

Joseph Tse is a partner at Tiang & Partners, an independent Hong Kong law firm associated with PwC Legal international Pte Ltd.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Simple Credit Micro-Lending Company Ltd Client -

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.

1/ The Project Contact

SimpleCredit Micro-Lending Company Limited
Patrick Meng
Group Chief Financial Officer
+852 2156 8872
Patrick.meng@xyd.cn
13/F, No 8 Queen’s Central, Central, Hong Kong
www.xyd.cn

2/ The IFC Contact

General IFC Inquiries
IFC Communications
2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384

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