Forus Loan II

completed

The proposed project is to provide a US$5 million straight senior loan to Forus Bank (“Forus” or “Bank”). The loan is intended to support the Bank’s micro-lending operations in the European part of Russia.Forus Bank is a unique specialized microfinance institution, located in Nizhny Novgorod. The Bank was formed by FORA Fund, a non-banking microfinance organization in Russia, part of Opportunity International Microfinance Network. Since then Forus has gone through a transformation into a commercial bank and managed to build a sustainable business model and a recognized brand. IFC has been engaged with the Bank since 2006.At the moment Forus is the only commercial bank in Russia specialized on lending to micro enterprises. The Bank operates through 6 regional branches and 34 satellite offices located in 26 regions of Russia, which translates into the market share of about 2.5% of the total microfinance market in Russia.