IDA IFC BICIS

completed

This project involves a joint IDA-IFC Risk Sharing Facility (RSF) in the local currency equivalent of $5 million ($10 million portfolio size). The RSF will apply to the portfolios of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) loans originated by Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie du Senegal (BICIS), one of the two banks selected by the Government of Senegal (GoS) to benefit from this RSF program. The RSF to be issued by IFC will cover up to 50% of the credit risk of the commercial banks’ portfolio of new SME loans, with IDA funds of up to $1 million taking the first loss risk to IFC. IDA funds will be held in euros in a World Bank Trust Fund and will take 50% of the first loss risk. The commercial banks will share all losses on a 50-50 basis with the IFC-IDA RSF. In addition to the guarantee, the project envisages two technical assistance (TA) components: - TA to each commercial bank, with the objective of transferring the necessary skills and procedures to better service the SME sector and thus enhance the banks’ capacity to underwrite new SME loans on a profitable and sustainable basis; and - TA to SMEs, which aims to help bridge the gap between the SMEs and the banks by providing some basic financial and management training to the SMEs.