ABSA SL (IFC-44557)

Countries
  • South 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."
Voting Date
Jan 21, 2021
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
ABSA BANK LTD
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)
$ 150.00 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 Nov 30, 2020

Disclosed by Bank Nov 23, 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 bank provided information, te proposed investment consists of a senior loan of up to US$150 million to Absa Bank Ltd (“Absa” or the “Bank”) (the “Project”). The Project will help Absa to further augment its climate finance business and to support green investments, including renewable energy and biomass in South Africa. The Project will be the first green loan in Africa in compliance with the internationally recognized Green Loan Principles (GLPs).

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

The Project involves a 3-year senior loan of up to US$150 million.

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.

Absa is the third largest bank in South Africa in terms of assets and has a market share of 21% in loans and 20% in deposits. The Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Absa Group Limited (“AGL” or the “Group”), the third-largest financial services group on the continent. AGL provides wholesale and retail banking services, corporate and investment banking, wealth and asset management, and insurance services. Outside of South Africa, the Group is present in 11 countries in Eastern, Southern and Western Africa. In 2019, AGL became one of the founding signatories of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, committing to strategically align its business with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change.


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.

Absa Bank Limited
Rolf Van Den Heever
Head of Capital Markets Execution
+27 (0) 11 350 4000
Rolf.VanDenHeever@absa.africa
7th Floor, Absa Towers West 15 Troye Street, Johannesburg, 2001 PO Box 7735, Johannesburg, 2000 SA
www.absa.africa 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries 

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

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