49369 - BOP Access Gh

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Summary of Investment Information

Project Number

49369

Company Name

ACCESS BANK (GHANA) PLC

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 4, 2024

Department

Regional Industry - FIG Africa

Industry

Financial Markets

Previous Events

Approved : Jun 24, 2024
Signed : Jun 30, 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$20 million in USD to Access Bank Ghana (“Access 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”). The Project will include up to US$10 million on IFC’s own account and up to US$10 million in funded mobilization. Up to 30% of the aggregate 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’ 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”).

Sponsor / Cost / Location

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan	10.0
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
Syndications	Loans to MSME (mix of Micro and SME)
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 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.

E&S Category Rationale / Risks and Mitigation

The proposed investment entails a senior unsecured loan of a size of US$20 million under the BOP program targeting MSMEs. The Bank’s current SME portfolio includes exposures to sectors such as commerce sector and contactors, agriculture, and construction and real estate. As such, the portfolio supported under the Project is expected to comprise business activities with limited adverse environmental and social risks or impacts that are few in number, generally site-specific, largely reversible and readily addressable through mitigation measures. As part of the project, the Bank will be required to screen eligible SMEs against the IFC Exclusion List and national E&S laws and regulations in Ghana. The Bank will be also required to screen out higher risk activities. The Project will not support coal, coal-related activities or Higher Risk Transactions that may include: a) involuntary resettlement, b) risk of adverse impacts on Indigenous Peoples, c) significant risks to or impacts on environment, community health and safety, biodiversity, cultural heritage, or d) significant Occupational Health and Safety risks. The main E&S risks and impacts of this Project relate to the ability of Access Ghana to identify and manage the potential E&S risks and impacts associated with the lending activities to SMEs, as well as the Bank’s labor practices. The E&S risks and impacts associated with SME activities are typically low to medium environmental and social risks such as waste management, pollution prevention, labor and working conditions and occupational health and safety, etc.

Access Ghana has an E&S management system (“ESMS”) for assessing E&S risks and impacts associated with its lending activities, and a designated E&S team. The ESMS details the internal process steps for E&S risk management, including categorization, E&S due diligence, inclusion of E&S conditions into loan agreements, and monitoring. As part of this project, Access Ghana will be required to further enhance its ESMS, essentially to: (i) define the scope of the ESMS to cover the entire asset class supported by the Project, (ii) provide more details and clarifications to the E&S categorization methodology, (iii) revise the exclusion list to align to IFC’s Exclusion List, (iv) upgrade its E&S due diligence questionnaires and including checklists for screening out higher risk activities, (v) develop E&S clauses to include in its credit documentation, and (vi) develop an external communication mechanism. The Bank will also be required to implement the revised ESMS and provide adequate E&S trainings to relevant staff. In relation to labor standards, the Bank’s human resources policies are generally in line with the requirements of IFC Performance Standard 2 on Labor and Working Conditions.

Title	Anticipated Completion Date
Enhance the ESMS	05/31/2024
E&S training to staff	09/28/2024
Implement the ESMS	12/27/2024

Contacts

For Inquiries About the Project, Contact

Access Bank Ghana
Mr. Olumide Olatunji
Regional Managing Director
+233 (0) 302661541
Olumide.olatunji@accessbankplc.com
PO Box GP 353, Accra, Ghana
www.accessbankplc.com

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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