FIF - EaP WiB IV - ACBA Bank (EFSD+ 1&3)

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Overview

Senior unsecured loan in the amount of up to USD 10 million to ACBA Bank for on-lending to women-led businesses under the Women in Business (WiB) Programme in the Eastern Partnership countries.

Project ID 54846

Status Disbursing

Location

Armenia

Business Sector

Financial Institutions

Notice Type

Private

Project timeline

Exploratory
Passed Concept Review
Passed Structure Review
Passed Final Review
Board Approved
Signed
Implementing
Completed

Company Contact Information

Anzhelika Baghramyan
Anzhelika.Baghramyan@acba.am
+37410318888
www.acba.am
82-84 Aram str. / 0002 Yerevan / Republic of Armenia

Project ID 54846

Status Disbursing

Location

Armenia

Business Sector

Financial Institutions

Notice Type

Private

Environmental Category

Approval Date

07 Nov 2023

Disclosure date

10 Nov 2023

As per section 1.4.2 (iii) of the Directive on Access to Information: "For Projects approved by Bank management where the Board of Directors has delegated the approval authority, the PSD shall be disclosed at the start of the relevant no-objection notification period to a member country of the Bank in accordance with Article 13 (iii) of the Agreement Establishing the EBRD."

FIF - EaP WiB IV - ACBA Bank (EFSD 1 and 3) (Armenian) (PDF, 0.38MB)

Project description

Senior unsecured loan in the amount of up to USD 10 million to ACBA Bank for on-lending to women-led businesses under the Women in Business (WiB) Programme in the Eastern Partnership countries.

Project objectives

The proposed loan will promote further women's entrepreneurship and women's participation in business facilitating access to finance, know-how and advice. It will further strengthen ACBA's customer base and continue supporting and encouraging the development of new products in the local banking sector with specific focus on women-led SMEs and growth of medium and long-term financing.

Transition impact

ETI Score:80

EBRD fourth loan under EaP WiB Programme, the WiB loan to ACBA will continue to support the Inclusive and Competitive transition qualities.

Inclusive: The Project will address the "medium" gender related inclusion gap for access to finance in Armenia. Women-owned enterprises represent 33% of all businesses in Armenia. The country ranks 89th out of 156 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index and compared to the other Eastern Partnership countries Armenia has one of the lowest score at 0.698 (Global Gender Gap Report 2022).

Competitive: In line with FIF market expansion objectives, the project will support ACBA's lending to women-led MSMEs in Armenia by a multiple of EBRD's funding. This transaction is expected to encourage ACBA to further expand its lending to women-led MSMEs over and above the EBRD investment, with a focus on regional outreach and new clients.

Client information

ACBA BANK OJSC

ACBA bank is a long-standing partner bank of EBRD. It is the 4th largest bank in Armenia in terms of total assets and gross loan portfolio, with 8% and 11% respective shares in the system as of 2Q 2023.

EBRD Finance Summary

USD 10,000,000.00

Total project cost

USD 10,000,000.00

Additionality

Financing structure: The project will provide long-term financing to ACBA bank available in LCY in a market where short-term assets and liabilities prevail.

Standard-setting: helping projects and clients achieve higher standards: WiB Loan will address the gaps in available financing for Women SMEs and the lack of an integrated response to such gap, either from private sector institutions or other IFIs. Additionality is evidenced by the presence of TC support and a risk cover aimed to support ACBA to increase lending to the underdeveloped WiB segment. ACBA will also benefit from EBRD's experience in previous ASB activities and stand-alone WiB operations in the EaP countries, as well as relevant activities in other countries of operation.

Environmental & Social Summary

Categorised FI (2019 ESP). ACBA's past performance and annual environmental and social (E&S) reporting to date for the existing exposures has been strong. ACBA will need to ensure further compliance with PRs 2, 4 & 9 and EBRD's Environmental and Social Procedures for Corporate Loans, SME and Micro Loans, and TFP Environmental and Social Procedures, and will be required to submit annual environmental and social reports to the EBRD.

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

TC: The EaP WiB TC Programme includes two linked components:

(i) Capacity Building to PFIs to implement the Programme and a range of cross-cutting activities in support of Programme promotion and management; and

(ii) Women-led SMEs access to know-how (Advice for Small Businesses). The source of donor funding will be either Sweden or EU.

Non-TC: Co-investment grants / Concessional Finance: The project will benefit from two instruments under the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) Programme, First Loss Risk Cover on the provided financing in favour of EBRD and First Loss Risk Cover on sub-loan portfolio in favour of ACBA.

Company Contact Information

Anzhelika Baghramyan
Anzhelika.Baghramyan@acba.am
+37410318888
www.acba.am
82-84 Aram str. / 0002 Yerevan / Republic of Armenia

PSD last updated

10 Nov 2023

Understanding transition

Further information regarding the EBRD’s approach to measuring transition impact is available here.

Business opportunities

For business opportunities or procurement, contact the client company.

For business opportunities with the EBRD (not related to procurement) contact:

Tel: +44 20 7338 7168
Email: projectenquiries@ebrd.com

For state-sector projects, visit EBRD Procurement:

Tel: +44 20 7338 6794
Email: procurement@ebrd.com

General enquiries

Specific enquiries can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

The ESP and its associated Environmental and Social Requirements (ESRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting “environmentally sound and sustainable development”. The ESP and the ESRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation, and to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders’ concerns and grievances, in particular, about the environmental and social (E&S) performance of the client and the project. Proportionate to the nature and scale of a project’s environmental and social risks and impacts, the EBRD also requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts of projects or to undertake meaningful consultation with stakeholders and consider and respond to their feedback.

More information on the EBRD’s practices in this regard is set out in the ESP.

Integrity and compliance

The EBRD's Office of the Chief Compliance Officer (OCCO) promotes good governance and ensures that the highest standards of integrity are applied to all of the Bank's activities in accordance with international best practice. Integrity due diligence is conducted on all Bank clients to ensure that projects do not present unacceptable integrity or reputational risks to the Bank. The EBRD believes that identifying and resolving issues in the project assessment and approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts andhelps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.

OCCO is further responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, either within or outside the Bank, who suspects fraud or corruption should submit a written report to the Chief Compliance Officer by email to compliance@ebrd.com. OCCO will follow-up all matters reported. It will review all matters reported. Reports can be made in any language of the Bank or of the Bank's countries of operation. The information provided must be made in good faith.

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

The AIP, which entered into force on 1 January 2025, sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations. Please visit the Access to Information Policy page to find out what information is available from the EBRD website.

Specific requests for information can be made using the EBRD enquiries form.

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)

If efforts to address environmental, social or public disclosure concerns with the Client or the Bank are unsuccessful (for example, through the client’s project-level grievance mechanism or through direct engagement with Bank management), individuals and organisations may seek to address their concerns through the EBRD’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM).

IPAM independently reviews project issues that are believed to have caused (or to be likely to cause) harm. The purpose of the mechanism is: to support dialogue between project stakeholders to resolve environmental, social and public disclosure issues; to determine whether the Bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy or the project-specific provisions of its Access to Information Policy; and where applicable, to address any existing non-compliance with these policies, while preventing future non-compliance by the Bank.

Please visit the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism webpage to find out more about IPAM and its mandate and how to submit a Request for review. Alternatively, contact IPAM by email at ipam@ebrd.com for guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.

Environmental and Social Documentation is not available for this project.

Selected procurement notices related to this project may be shown below. Further procurement opportunities related to this and other projects, if available, maybe be viewed in the EBRD Procurement Portal.

The EBRD's Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), Access to Information policy (AIP) and Project Accountability Policy (PAP) enable sound and sustainable development in its projects. The Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) deals with complaints about environmental, social and disclosure matters related to the Bank’s investments.

No complaints about this project have been made so far.

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FIF - EaP WiB IV - ACBA Bank (EFSD+ 1&3)

Overview

Project timeline

Company Contact Information

Project description

Project objectives

Transition impact

Client information

EBRD Finance Summary

Total project cost

Additionality

Environmental & Social Summary

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

Company Contact Information

PSD last updated

Understanding transition

Business opportunities

General enquiries

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

Integrity and compliance

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)