49247 - BOP SocGen Ghana

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Summary of Investment Information

Project Number

49247

Company Name

SOCIETE GENERALE GHANA LTD

Date SPI Disclosed

May 31, 2024

Country

Ghana

Region

Africa

Projected Board Date

Jun 30, 2024

Environmental Category

FI-2 - Limited

Status

Pending Disbursement

Last Updated Date

Jul 3, 2024

Department

Regional Industry - FIG Africa

Industry

Financial Markets

Previous Events

Approved : Jun 24, 2024
Signed : Jun 28, 2024

Sector

Commercial Banking - SME Finance

Additional Project Attributes

Blended Finance

Project Description

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).

Associated Advisory Engagement

N/A

Sponsor / Cost / Location

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan	25.0
Equity

IFC's loan to the financial institution described in this SII is targeted for on-lending to the following sector(s):

Product Type	Use of Proceeds
Straight Senior Loan	Loans to MSME (mix of Micro and SME)

IFC's Definitions of Targeted Sectors can be found here.

Development Impact

The project will provide financing to MSMEs located in Ghana, the Anticipated Impact Measurement and Monitoring (AIMM) rating of Good based on an AIMM score of 66. On an unadjusted basis (i.e., without likelihood factor), the full potential AIMM score could reach 88. The most significant expected project-level outcome for the project is access to finance for MSMEs. Beyond the Project, this transaction is part of a programmatic approach that IFC anticipates has the potential to promote greater Competitiveness. IFC’s program helps address the critical challenges in Ghana's SME finance market by demonstrating the commercial viability of new SME lending business models that serve a wide array of MSMEs.

Financial Additionality : Financing Structure: Long-term financing directed to financial institutions for targeted on-lending to SMEs is scarce in Ghana. The proposed financing will support the Bank increase its lending to MSMEs. The project will provide a five-year facility which is not readily available and at a time when credit to the banking sector is severely restricted in the wake of the Ghana sovereign default and the macro conditions. Additionally, IFC’s investment is anticipated to provide comfort and assurance to potential investors and crowd in additional capital towards enhancing banking sector resilience. ? Non-financial Additionality?: Knowledge, innovation and capacity building: The Bank has requested IFC’s Advisory support in building capacity and strengthening its Banking on Women initiative “SG initiative”, a program which is designed to empower women economically through financial inclusion and development of entrepreneurial skills. A diagnostic study is planned as a first step towards achieving this. In addition, IFC will offer training to the Bank’s client MSMEs on financial management. ?

E&S Category Rationale / Risks and Mitigation

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. The key risks and impacts of the project stem from the Bank's ability to maintain and implement its management system to adequately identify and manage the potential environmental and social risks associated with the sub-projects supported under this Project. These risks are typically associated with occupational health and safety issues, pollution prevention, waste and wastewater management, labor and working conditions issues, biodiversity, and community impacts, among others. For this project, IFC’s applicable E&S requirements will be screening against the IFC Exclusion List, and Ghanaian E&S laws and regulations. Société Générale Ghana’s existing human resources policies and procedures are aligned with IFC’s Performance Standards 2. As part of the project, the Bank will be required to: (i) maintain its ESMS procedures; (ii) meet Life & Fire safety requirements; (iii) remain committed to applying the labor standards established by the IFC Performance Standard 2; (iv) provide E&S training to staff; (v) improve its ESMS monitoring procedures.

Société Générale Ghana is an existing IFC client with an E&S management system (ESMS). The ESMS includes an E&S policy, roles and responsibilities, and tools and procedures on loan review and categorization, screening and monitoring. The E&S procedures which are applied to the Bank’s corporate and MSME portfolio, include screening against the IFC Exclusion List and Ghanaian local and national laws. The ESMS is implemented by a dedicated E&S risk management team that includes an E&S officer and Sustainability Manager. During the appraisal assessment of the bank’s ESMS, opportunities for improvement of it’s ESMS implementation were identified which includes improvements in the E&S monitoring process, and development of a training plan. The bank will be required to develop and implement an E&S monitoring plan, develop an E&S training plan and implement E&S trainings.

Title	Anticipated Completion Date
ESMS Improvements	07/30/2024
ESMS Improvements	01/26/2025
Training Plan	07/30/2024
Training	01/26/2025

Contacts

For Inquiries About the Project, Contact

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

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Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384

IFC supports its clients in addressing environmental and social issues arising from their business activities by requiring its real sector clients to set up and administer appropriate grievance mechanisms and/or procedures to address complaints from Affected Communities in relation to environmental and social issues arising from IFC's clients' business activities. Since 2012, IFC's Financial Intermediary clients applying the Performance Standards are required to develop External Communications Mechanisms to receive and review inquiries or complaints from any interested party regarding the E&S risks and impacts of their operations.

For IFC projects that are active or under consideration, individual(s), or their authorized representative(s), who allege they have been or will be adversely affected by E&S risks or impacts arising from IFC's clients' business activities, may submit a complaint to IFC directly for consideration. When receiving an E&S complaint, IFC engages with complainants and works with its clients to find solutions to E&S concerns as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Complaints can be submitted to IFC online at www.ifc.org/escomplaints or by email to EScomplaints@ifc.org.

IFC complaint response is separate from and complementary to IFC’s clients’ project level grievance mechanisms and IFC’s Independent Accountability Mechanism (CAO). Lodging a complaint directly with IFC does not, at any time, restrict access to CAO.

Affected communities have unrestricted access to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability mechanism for IFC and MIGA. CAO facilitates the resolution of complaints related to IFC and MIGA projects and sub-projects, undertakes reviews of IFC’s and MIGA’s environmental and social compliance, fosters public accountability for their commitments, and enhances the environmental and social performance of IFC and MIGA.

Independent of IFC and MIGA management and reporting directly to the IFC and MIGA Boards of Executive Directors, CAO helps resolve issues raised about the environmental and social impacts of projects through a neutral, collaborative, problem-solving approach via its Dispute Resolution function. It also reviews IFC’s and MIGA’s compliance with environmental and social policies, assesses related harm, and recommends remedial actions through its Compliance function. Additionally, CAO provides advice to IFC, MIGA, and their Boards to enhance environmental and social sustainability performance and minimize the risk of harm.

Complaints may relate to environmental and social harm regarding any aspect of the planning, implementation, or impact of a project or sub-project, and can be made by any individual, group, community, entity, or other party affected or likely to be affected by the environmental or social impacts of an IFC- or MIGA-financed business activity.

Complaints can be submitted by any of the following methods:

Online form: available at https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/
Mail/Hand Delivery to: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA
Voice mail: +1 202 458 1973
Email: cao@worldbankgroup.org
SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal: +1 202 650 2627

CAO receives and addresses complaints in accordance with the CAO Policy, which can be accessed at: https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/policies-guidelines.

This Summary of Investment Information (SII) is prepared by IFC to disclose a factual summary of the main elements of the potential investment. It also includes findings and recommendations related to environmental and social considerations regarding this potential investment. The purpose of the SII is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities. For any project documentation or data included or attached herein, whether prepared by the project sponsor or otherwise, authorization has been given for public release by the project sponsor. IFC considers that this SII is of adequate quality for release to the public, but has not necessarily independently verified all of the project information therein. It is distributed in advance of IFC Board of Directors’ consideration and may be periodically updated thereafter. Board dates are estimates only and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board Directors’ decision. The following SII is disclosed in accordance with IFC's Access to Information Policy (AIP) that went into effect on January 1, 2012.

The map is for illustrative purposes and does not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the World Bank, concerning the legal status of any country or territory or concerning the delimitation of frontiers or boundaries. Country borders or names do not necessarily reflect the World Bank Group's official position. In some cases, available project location information is limited to the country of the project's activities. Locations are approximate.

Shareholding as of June 2023	%
SG Financial Services Holding	60.22%
SSNIT	19.36%
Daniel Ofori	6.80%
SCGN/Ets Life Association Policy Holders	1.41%
SCGN/CITIBANK KUWAIT INV AUTHORITY	0.59%
Others (less than 0.5% each)	11.62%
Grand Total	100%

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