Egypt: QNB Alahli: Internal Capacity Building for MSME Lending

Clarification 22/06/2017: Please kindly note that the Client's contact email adress has been amended and should now read as follows: Sally.HAMDALLA@QNBALAHLI.COM.

Executing Agency (Client):

QNB Alahli Bank

The Client Contact Person:

Sally Hamdalla

Head of Multilateral Relationships & Funding

Qatar National Bank AlAhli

5 Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo. Egypt.

Tel: +2027707321

E-mail: Sally.HAMDALLA@QNBALAHLI.COM

The EBRD Contact Person:

Sophie Medert

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

One Exchange Square

London EC2A 2JN

Tel: + 44 20 7338 7371

Fax: +44 20 7338 7451

E-mail: MedertS@ebrd.com

Project Description: QNB Alahli (the “Client” or “QNBAA”) is the 4^th largest bank in Egypt by asset size and the 2^nd largest private bank. QNBAA has market shares of approximately 4.9%, 7.5% and 5.8% by assets, lending and deposits, respectively at the end of 2016. It also has one of the largest branch networks among commercial banks in Egypt and is an existing client of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD” or the “Bank”).

EBRD provided the client with a senior unsecured loan of up to USD 100 million to be on-lent to Egyptian SMEs, increasing access to finance for a currently under-served segment. This loan follows the successful disbursement and on-lending of a first MSME credit line of USD 100 million signed in May 2015. QNBAA identified MSME lending as an important pillar of its growth strategy and made significant steps in the past years to better structure its MSME business line and would like to improve the efficiency of its MSME lending operations by increasing their internal capacities for implementing updated, internationally recognised best practices and procedures.

QNBAA now intends to engage a consulting firm(the “Consultant”) to assist them to expand their capacities in MSME lending to effectively and efficiently provide (multi-purpose) MSME loans to enterprises across the country on a sustainable basis (the “Assignment”).

To achieve this, the Consultant will focus on the following key objectives:

1. Build internal capacity at QNBAA through recommendations, assistance in implementation measures aiming at expanding MSME (with special focus on Micro & Very Small Segment) lending and risk management, and staff training in MSME lending.  Review the bank’s MSME strategy, current MSME product range (including assets and liabilities, credit/lending programs and non-credit products, financial and non-financial services, etc.), assist with new product development reflecting the Client’s strategy and market needs.
2. Assess feasibility, provide recommendations and assist with implementation of MSME credit scoring.

For further details of the Assignment, please find the detailed Terms of Reference here.

Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.

Assignment Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in Q1 2018 and has an estimated overall duration of 12 months.

Maximum Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 280,000 (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 Client will have to pay indirect taxes/VAT element to the services directly to the Consultant unless otherwise agreed.

Funding Source: It is anticipated that the contract will be co-financed by the SEMED Multi-Donor Account and the SEMED cooperation funds account. The SEMED Multi-Donor Account is funded by Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taipei China and United Kingdom. The SEMED cooperation funds account is funded from the EBRD net income. Selection and contracting is subject to the availability of funding.

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.

Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a consulting firm or a group of firms with preferably previous project experience related to:

1. assisting commercial banks or similar financial institutions with the development of MSME lending including the strengthening of sub-loan underwriting, portfolio monitoring and management, marketing and sales, internal controls, and risk management;
2. building internal capacity in Banks or similar financial institutions on MSME lending and the implementation of train-the-trainer programmes.

It is expected that the Consultant's team will include the following key expert(s):

Key Expert 1: MSME Lending and Risk Management Expert (Project Manager/Team Leader)

• Preferably 15 years or more of professional experience and relevant qualifications in MSME lending and demonstrable knowledge of Egyptian banking and MSME finance sector;
• Professional experience and expertise in the development of MSME lending and credit risk assessment methodologies and establishment of relevant business processes;
• Professional experience in managing similar assignments in the Southern Eastern and Mediterranean (“SEMED”) region and/or other countries in the EBRD’s countries of operation (“ EBRD CoO”);
• Professional experience in conducting training on the entire transaction cycle for MSME lending including relationship management with excellent communication, training, and presentation skills.

Key Expert 2:  Credit Scoring Expert

• Preferably 5-7 years of significant professional experience and relevant qualifications in credit scoring and cash flow analysis including  underwriting, loan monitoring and loan recovery of MSMEs;
• Preferably 5 years of significant professional experience and relevant qualifications in risk management and devising scoring systems for MSME lending;
• Professional experience in conducting training on the entire transaction cycle for MSME lending with excellent communication, training, and presentation skills.

Key Expert 3: Marketing and Product Development Expert

• Preferably 10 years of significant professional experience and relevant qualifications in devising marketing strategies and plans in MSME area for commercial banks in both developed and emerging markets;
• Professional experience in conducting training on the entire transaction cycle for MSME lending with excellent communication, training, and presentation skills.

Key Expert 4:  MSME Advisor – Training Expert

• Preferably 10 years of experience in understanding, recommending and implementing appropriate training programmes for management and staff and preferably experience in or exposure to emerging markets and specifically of their banking sectors;
• Professional experience in conducting training on the entire transaction cycle for MSME lending including relationship management with excellent communication, training, and presentation skills.

Key Expert 5:  APS/IT Expert

• Preferably 10 years of significant professional experience in business processes automatization for MSME operations in a commercial bank;
• Relevant IT qualifications.

Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected, the information submitted should include the following:

1. Company/group of firms' profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages);

2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments particularly 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 (if different from duration) , main activities, objectives;

3. Proposed approach, work plan and methodology

4. CVs of the Consultant’s expert team 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;

5. Financial proposal presented in the breakdown of costs format using the template via the following link.

6. Completed Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link:

http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc.

The expression of interest shall not exceed 25 pages (excluding CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet and Financial Proposal).

The expression of interest (including Section 1 – 4 and 6 of the Submission Requirements above) WITHOUT THE FINANCIAL PROPOSAL should be submitted, in English and Arabic by e-mail, as one file (pdf), clearly labelled “Expression of Interest for QNB Alahli: Internal Capacity Building for MSME Lending”, to reach the Client’s contact person not later than the closing date and time. One additional copy shall reach the Bank’s contact person by the same due date. The Client reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if any limitation on the permissible file size is exceeded, the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.

In a separate email, the Financial Proposals should be submitted, in English via clearly named email (pdf) to the Bank’s contact person only, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date and time.

Please note that a breach of this submission procedure may lead to exclusion of the selection process.

Important Notes:

1. The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification only. The highest ranked Consultant will be selected from a shortlist and invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.

2. Evaluation for the Expressions of Interest, are as follows:

1. Firm’s previous project experience assisting commercial banks or similar financial institutions with the development of MSME Lending including the strengthening of their credit and risk management – 25%
2. Firm’s previous project experience building internal capacity in Banks or similar financial institutions on MSME lending and the implementation of train-the-trainer programmes – 20%
3. Proposed approach to the assignment, work plan and methodology - 15%
4. Proposed composition of team and CVs of experts – 25%
5. Financial Proposal – 15%

The lowest evaluated Financial Proposal (Fm) is given the maximum financial score (Sf) of 20.

The formula for determining the financial scores (Sf) of all other Proposals is calculated as following:

Sf = 20 x Fm/F, in which “Sf” is the financial score, “Fm” is the lowest price, and “F” the price of the proposal under consideration.