The NSIA Group (NSIA or the Group) is a regional financial services group founded in 1995 by Mr. Jean Kacou DIAGOU, an Ivorian businessman and insurance specialist. The Group currently has a footprint in 12 countries in West and Central Africa, and is headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. NSIA comprises several affiliates offering insurance, banking, corporate finance and real estate services, with the insurance and banking divisions being the largest of the Group. The banking division consists of 3 banks, namely NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire, NSIA Banque Benin, which has fully-fledged country branches in Togo and Senegal, and NSIA Banque Guinea.

NSIA Participations is the holding company controlling most subsidiaries of the Group. NSIA Participations drives the Group strategy and provides oversight to the entire NSIA network. In 2015, the National Bank of Canada (NBC) completed the acquisition of a minority stake (22.06%) in NSIA Participations. In 2017, Swiss Re acquired 29.49% stake in Manzi Finance, the majority shareholder of NSIA Participations.

NSIA Benin (former Diamond Bank Benin prior to the acquisition by NSIA Group) is owned by Manzi Finance SA (73.03%), NSIA Banque Cote d’Ivoire (20%), NSIA Vie Assurance Cote d’Ivoire (5%), and other minority shareholders with less than 1.97%.                                              

   The proposed project consists of an unfunded RSF in an amount of up to ~EUR10 million equivalent in local currency, which will guarantee 50% of a ~EUR20 million (local currency equivalent) SMEs loan portfolio to be originated by the Bank. The RSF will support the Bank in increasing its lending to SMEs/VSEs or Very Small Enterprises, including women entrepreneurs.

The project falls under IFC’s SLGP which provides risk sharing instrument to client banks looking to expand SME lending in underserved markets. SLGP is supported by the IDA18 IFC-MIGA Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility (IDA PSW-BFF), which was created by the World Bank Group to catalyze private sector investment in IDA countries, with a focus on fragile and conflict-affected states. The IDA PSW BFF support would enable IFC to rapidly roll out a program of risk sharing facilities to reach segments facing serious market failures in IDA countries and provide access to finance to such underserved targeted market segments which IFC could not otherwise serve due to the associated high risk. The concessional support from IDA PSW BFF will, therefore, enable NSIA Benin to expand lending to SMEs, including WSMEs in Benin, Togo, and Senegal with inadequate or no collateral or weak cash flow but with potential to grow their business initiatives.

This project benefits from the IDA PSW BFF support and the concessionality embedded in the Program. The level of concessionality (i.e., “subsidy”) to be provided by IDA PSW BFF is estimated up to 9 percent of the total portfolio of US$800mn, for the whole SLGP. This estimate is based on the present value of the difference between (i) a “reference price” (either a market price if available; the price calculated using IFC's pricing model, which comprises three main elements: risk, cost and profit, or a negotiated price) and (ii) the “concessional price” being charged under the Program. The SLGP is a platform approach that can be accessed by other financial institutions in Benin, Togo, Senegal and other IDA PSW markets.                                                  

The project is also expected to be potentially supported by Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (“We-Fi”) in the form of a performance-based incentive (“PBI”) of up to 0.58% of the total project cost of EUR 20 million to incentivize on-lending to women-owned/women-led SMEs/VSEs. The estimated subsidy provided by We-Fi assumes that the project will fully reach the agreed impact and shall only be paid out upon achievement of the pre-defined target. We-Fi’s support would enable IFC to reach more women SMEs/VSEs that may otherwise not be served without its support. IFC is open to engaging further with other financial institutions and consider structures similar to the one proposed in this investment with the support of We-Fi. We-Fi is a multi-donor initiative to address barriers to financial access and provide related services that address public and private-sector constraints to women entrepreneurs and women-led SMEs across the developing world, thereby promoting jobs and boosting economic growth.

Further details and historical information on estimated subsidy levels in IFC’s blended finance portfolio can be found at: www.ifc.org/blendedfinance. As is the case with all IFC’s blended concessional finance co-investments, this project has been assessed against the Enhanced Blended Concessional Finance Principles for Development Finance Institution (“DFI”) Private Sector Operations adopted by IFC and more than 20 other DFIs in 2017. Further information on these Enhanced Principles and IFC’s blended finance approach and governance can also be found at: www.ifc.org/blendedfinance.                                                

      The Facility will support NSIA Banque Benin it its countries of operation, i.e. Benin, Senegal, and Togo.