The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ("EBRD" or the "Bank") intends to support Bank of Asia (“BA”) with its plans to step up the development of its Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (“MSME”) lending, including the risk management and credit analysis areas. BA is a private commercial bank, established on 10 February 1998 and operating in the Kyrgyz Republic. It is one of the smallest players in Kyrgyz Republic but has been rapidly growing its MSME lending operations. The Bank is committed to supporting local partner finance institutions by providing long-term financing and technical assistance to improve their lending methodologies and increase their outreach.
Technical assistance will enable important institution building measures to be undertaken to ensure the sustainable expansion of the BA’s MSME lending operations and develop it as its core business. It is vital to accompany such rapid growth with appropriate enhancement of risk management function and the development of other internal procedures and controls.
A consultant is now being sought by BA(the “Consultant”) to provide the following services (the “assignment”).
i. MSME lending product optimization
ii. Risk management systems enhancement; improvement of the operational efficiency and control functions to adequately pursue its business
iii. Assistance with the development of internal audit and control procedures and policies
iv. Training of specialized bank staff in the area of MSME lending
v. Performance measurement and reporting to be enhanced to maintain quality management discussions as the business gets more complex.
Assignment Duration: The assignment is expected to start in September 2015 and have an estimated overall duration of eighteen (18) months.
Maximum Cost Estimate Available for the Assignment: EUR 110,000; exclusive of VAT
The Consultant must determine whether any indirect taxes/VAT are chargeable on the proposed services and state the basis for such. If any indirect taxes/VAT are payable, the EBRD’s Client will have to pay indirect taxes/VAT element to the services directly to the Consultant unless otherwise agreed.
Funding Source: The expected source of funding for the assignment is Early Transition Countries Fund (“ETC Fund”).
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions; however, consultant selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are sought. The Consultant is expected to be a firm or consortium of firms providing experts with a proven track record and expertise in assisting commercial banks with (i) strengthening credit and risk management processes; (ii) experience in devising and implementing MSME lending processes, proven ability
to help banks with credit approval, monitoring, work-out, credit risk
management functions and asset-liability management procedures; (iii) track record in increasing market share of loans and/or other credit products; (iv) strategy development and corporate governance; (v) understanding, recommending and implementing appropriate training programmes for staff; (vi) ability to deal with difficult issues in a
sensitive but firm manner; (vii) results oriented and strongly motivated; good management skills.
The Consultant should have relevant experience in transition economies and knowledge of the operational environment in Kyrgyz Republic or similar environment.
The Consultant’s team is expected to comprise at a minimum of the
following types of experts:
• Key Expert No 1: Project Manager/Senior MSME Lending Expert (“PM”) with proven track record in successfully leading the development and implementation of MSME strategy, MSME lending methodologies and business processes. The PM should have significant professional experience (ideally more than 10 years) in managing similar assignments in the Commonwealth of Independent States (“CIS”) region and/or other countries and relevant qualifications; Excellent communication, training, and presentation skills.
• Key Expert No 2: Internal Audit/Control Expert with a proven track record in making recommendations to commercial banks in the areas of internal control and credit scoring and helping commercial banks implement them.
• Key Expert No 3: Credit Risk Management Expert with a proven track record in making recommendations to commercial banks in the areas of risk management and helping commercial banks implement them. In particular, the expert must have demonstrable experience in strengthening loan underwriting and monitoring procedures.
All experts should ideally have at least five (5) years of practical experience in the field of their expertise, unless specified differently. All experts must be fluent in English. Russian language capability within the team is a key requirement.
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 or 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 Form 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, Contact Sheet, Declaration Form) are to be submitted in English and Russian, by e-mail, preferably as one file (pdf or Word), not exceeding 2MB, clearly labelled “Expression of Interest for Kyrgyzstan: Bank of Asia – Strengthening of Institutional Capacities for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Lending”, shall be submitted to the Executing Agency’s contact person given below with a copy to EBRD no later than the closing date/time quoted above.
Executing Agency: Bank of Asia
The Executing Agency’s Contact Person: Nurlan Aldayarov
Address: 303, Mira ave, FEZ “Bishkek”, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
Tel: +996 555 585844, +996 312 551182
E-mail: naldayarov@bankasia.kg
The EBRD's Contact Person:
Angela Levitsky
Tel: +44 207 338 6363
Email: LevitskA@ebrd.com
Notes:
1. The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification only. Consultants will not be asked to submit a proposal. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected from a shortlist and be invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
2. The shortlist criteria are as follows:
- Previous experience of the firm/firms in the field of assisting banks with development of MSME business, strategy development and corporate governance, strengthening credit and risk management (30%)
- Firm/firms' experience in the developed and emerging markets (20%)
- CVs of key experts (50%)
