The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ("EBRD" or the "Bank") intends to engage a consultant (the "Consultant") to support Bank CenterCredit (“BCC”) with strengthening institutional capacities for efficient MSME lending (the "assignment").
On 23 December, the Bank provided BCC with a loan for on-lending to its MSME clients within the framework of the Kazakhstan MSME Financing Facility. This was in support of BCC’s plans to reactivate its MSME lending operations over the medium-term following signs of stabilization in the banking sector.
Historically, SME lending has been the main focus of BCC’s operations, representing approximately 40% of the bank’s gross portfolio, up until the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. The TC assignment will be instrumental to ensure that BCC, one of the largest lenders in the country, will reactivate lending operations based on improved institutional capacities and sound corporate governance practices which will bring efficiency and facilitate better access to long-term financing for MSMEs, thus, contributing to overall development of the MSME sector in Kazakhstan.
The objective of this assignment is to support BCC via assistance with:
(i) Preparation of the MSME strategy and establishment of a separate MSME department;
(ii) Strengthening underwriting, risk management and monitoring; as well as improvement of the relevant business processes, HR policies and staff training.
The Consultants tasks will include: assessment of BCC’s risk management, lending practices, business processes, HR strategy and existing MSME plans. Following the review, the Consultant will be expected to make recommendations and help BCC to: develop medium-term business and marketing plans; implement the improvements in the above areas, develop training programs and measures to ensure the sustainability of the training process.
Assignment Duration: The assignment is expected to start in mid-April 2015 and have an estimated overall duration of fifteen (15) months.
Maximum budget Available for the Assignment: EUR 535,000; exclusive of VAT. The consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the Bank's special status as an international financial institution (IFI), and state this in their response to this Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (eg VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.
Funding Source: It is anticipated that the contract will be partly financed through the EU Investment Facility for Central Asia (IFCA Fund).
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The consultant will be a firm which will have experience and expertise in assisting commercial banks with the development of MSME business and marketing strategies, strengthening credit and risk management; standardization, optimization and automation of business processes, proven ability to help banks with credit approval, monitoring and work-out functions; track record in increasing market share of loans and/or other credit products; proven ability to help banks with devising and implementing lending policies; understand, recommend and implement appropriate training programs for staff; ability to deal with difficult issues in a sensitive but firm manner; results oriented and strong motivation; good management skills and proven track record; preferably experience in or exposure to emerging markets and specifically of their banking sectors is also important; track record of flexibility in dealing effectively in cross-cultural environments; ability to provide individuals who speak Kazakh or Russian would be an advantage; otherwise the consultant should be prepared to work with an interpreter.
The consultant’s team is expected to comprise at a minimum the following types of experts:
• Key Expert No. 1, Project Coordinator with significant professional experience in managing similar assignments in the CIS region and other countries and relevant qualifications; fluency in Russian and English is essential.
• Key Expert No. 2, Project Manager/Senior MSME Lending Expert with significant professional experience (more than 10 years) in MSME strategy, technology and optimization of business processes for MSME lending, good knowledge of the National Bank of Kazakhstan requirements and standards, also good knowledge of financial analysis of MSME, similar experience in the CIS region and/or other countries and relevant qualifications. Fluency in Russian is essential. Required for seven months during the Assignment.
• Key Expert(s) No. 3, Experts in MSME Lending with relevant qualifications and significant professional experience (more than five years) in MSME lending in a commercial bank and/or a consultancy firm in the similar region, management skills, experience in hiring and training of staff. Fluency in Russian and English is essential. The availability and readiness to be physically present in Kazakhstan, including in the regions for at least eight months during the Assignment is very important.
• Key Expert No. 4, Risk Assessment and Scoring Specialist with relevant qualifications and significant experience in risk management and devising scoring systems for MSME lending. Fluency in Russian is essential. Required for two months.
• Key Expert No. 5, Marketing and Product Development specialist with relevant qualifications and significant experience in devising marketing strategies and plans in MSME area for commercial banks with similar profile. Fluency in Russian is essential. Required for up to two months.
• Key Expert No. 6, IT Specialist with significant professional experience in automatization of business processes for MSME operations in a commercial bank, relevant IT qualifications and experience in similar assignments in the CIS region and other countries. Required for one month.
All experts should ideally have at least five (5) years of experience in the field of their expertise, unless specified differently.
Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of consulting firm, the information submitted should include the following:
a) Brief overview of the firm/group of firms including company profile, organization and staffing;
b) Details of previous project experience of firm of group of firms and related assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided ,assignment budget, percentage carried out by consultant in case of association of firms or subcontracting, main activities, objectives;
c) CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives;
d) Completed Consultant Declaration From and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available at: http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc
The above information should not exceed 20 pages, excluding CVs and Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs and Contact Sheet) shall be one file (pdf or Word), not exceeding 4MB, to be uploaded to eSelection. The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded, the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.
Expressions of interest shall be submitted in English through eSelection and not directly to the contact person given below, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date for submissions indicated above.
The EBRD's Contact Person:
Larissa Gosling
Tel: +44 207 338 6338
Email: goslingl@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this e-mail address)
Important Notes:
Note 1. Following this invitation for Expression of Interest, a short list of qualified consultants will be formally invited to submit proposals. Consultant selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding.
Note 2. The evaluation criteria are as follows:
- Previous experience of the firm/firms in the field of assisting banks with development of MSME business and marketing strategies, strengthening credit and risk management (30%)
- Firm/firms' experience in the developed and emerging markets (20%)
- CVs of key experts (50%)
