Bank of Georgia is one of the Georgia’s leading private sector banks and provides a wide range of retail and corporate banking services. BoG was converted into an open joint stock company from a former state housing bank in 1994. It has since developed into a universal bank with a large retail and corporate client base. BoG’s largest shareholders are DEG and EBRD, which collectively own 28% of the bank, the remainder is owned by 1,700 other shareholders, mainly Georgian individuals and a local financial institution.

The proposed IFC investment is a credit line of up to $5 million to be onlent to Georgian individuals and SMEs.

5.0 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan	5.0
Equity

* These investment figures are indicative

Bank of Georgia is headquartered in Tbilisi and has 52 branches and service centers across the country.

This is an environmental review category FI ( Financial Institution) type 1 project. BoG will need to demonstrate that it has an environmental management system that will ensure that commercial real estate investments and SME lending meet the environmental and social requirements of the host country. BoG will be required to apply IFC''s Exclusion List to commercial property mortgages and to loans for new construction.
Location of environmental documents in locally affected community

The development impact of this project should be high, because it achieves the following objectives: - Provides financing for the improvement and expansion of the housing stock in Georgia. The housing stock is in need of repair and investment because the upkeep of properties was traditionally the responsibility of municipal governments, which no longer have the resources to fulfill this function. This credit line helps enable private companies and individuals fill the gap left by the state. - Allow a leading Georgian bank to increase the maturity of its liabilities and thereby better manage its asset and liability position. - Expand credit to borrowers who would otherwise not have access to financing. This will be particularly true for individuals and SMEs outside of Tbilisi, where the formal financial sector is less developed. IFC’s role in this project is two fold. First, IFC will be providing longer term funding which is currently scarce in Georgia. This will enable the Bank to extend longer credits without a negative asset and liability mismatch. Second, IFC has designed its financial covenants in this loan to encourage prudent management of credit, currency, and other financial risks.