BOP SocGen Ghana (IFC-49247)

Countries
  • Ghana
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
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
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 24, 2024
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
SOCIETE GENERALE GHANA 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)
$ 25.00 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)
$ 433.00 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 Jul 23, 2024

Disclosed by Bank May 31, 2024

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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’s website, the proposed project consists of a 5-year senior unsecured loan of up to US$25 million in USD to Société Générale Ghana (“SocGen Ghana” or the “Bank”) to support the provision of funding to Micro, Small, and Medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana (“the Project”). Up to 30% of the loan’s proceeds will be earmarked to women and women-owned MSMEs, on a best-efforts basis. The Project is being processed under IFC’s Base of the Pyramid (BOP) Program to support the growth of the banks’ micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) portfolio and will benefit from up to US$130 million Pooled First Loss Guarantee (PFLG) on the BOP Program-level provided by International Development Agency IDA Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility (IDA-PSW BFF).

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The project will support loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana, with a carve out for women MSMEs. The project will not support coal-related activities, high risk commodities or higher risk business activities that may include a) involuntary resettlement, b) risk of adverse impacts on indigenous peoples, c) significant risks to or impacts on the environment, community health and safety, biodiversity, cultural heritage or d) significant occupational health and safety risks. The environmental and social (E&S) risks of the supported sectors are expected to be medium, thus the project has been categorized as FI-2 in accordance with IFC’s Sustainability Policy.

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

IFC’s investment is a 5 year unsecured amortized loan of up to US$25 million with a one year grace period, for IFC’s own account.

The concessionality (i.e., subsidy) provided by the BFF is estimated at 7.6% of the total PSW eligible program size (up to US$433 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.

Société Générale Ghana is the 11th largest bank in Ghana by assets (December 2022), capturing approximately 4.5% market share. The Bank is well-run with sound financial fundamentals and strong support from the Group. Société Générale Ghana is the 7th largest subsidiary in terms of both deposits and loans out of the 15 SG African subsidiaries. In Ghana, the Bank has a customer base of over 200,000 across 42 branches in all 16 regions, with a historic strong franchise in the corporate segment of the market, however diversifying into SMEs. The Bank is listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) with market capitalization of US$92 million. 


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.

Societe Generale Ghana
Hakim Ouzzani
Managing Director
+233 302 20 86 00
Sgghana.ingo@socgen.com
Ring Road Central, Accra, P.O Box 13119, Accra, Ghana
www.societegenerale.com/gh

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

How it works

How it works