MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fidelity Bank Ghana Borrows $54m for SME Lending from FMO, BIO, Symbiotics, Oikocredit, Incofin

Two government-backed entities, the Netherlands’ Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) and the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), recently announced they are leading a senior loan package of USD 54 million to be onlent by Fidelity Bank Ghana to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The loan comprises USD 25 million from FMO, USD 15 million from BIO, USD 6 million from Switzerland’s Symbiotics, USD 5 million from the Netherlands’ Oikocredit and USD 3 million from Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management.

Fidelity Bank Ghana has total assets of GHS 4.2 billion (USD 980 million), return on assets of 0.22 percent, return on equity of 1.78 percent and 75 branches as of 2016.

Geneva-based Symbiotics provides investment intermediary and business services to investors and practitioners of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) development. Amersfoort-based Oikocredit is a cooperative with financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy investments in 71 countries. Antwerp’s Incofin, which invests in microfinance institutions in developing countries, reports assets worth USD 858 million as of June 2016.

BIO focuses on investments in developing nations in three sectors; the financial sector, small and medium-sized enterprises, and infrastructure. As of 2017, it has operations in Africa, Asia and South America. As of 2015, BIO reported total assets of EUR 728 million (USD 791 million).

Founded in 1970, FMO is 51-percent owned by the Dutch government. Its other stakeholders are commercial banks, trade unions, employers’ associations and individual investors. FMO supports governments and invests in financial institutions, energy firms and agribusiness operators in developing countries through loans, guarantees and other investment promotion activities, including local-currency investments. As of 2016, FMO reported total assets of EUR 8.55 billion (USD 9.28 billion).

By Phoebe Rorke, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Fidelity Bank Ghana:

Home Page

Fidelity Bank Ghana Annual Report 2016

FMO:
FMO supports SMEs in Ghana

FMO Annual Report 2016

BIO:
Home Page

BIO Annual Report 2015

Symbiotics:
Home Page

Oikocredit:
Home Page

Incofin Investment Management:
Home Page

MicroCapital:
FMO Loans $29m to El Salvador’s Fedecredito for On-lending to Cooperatives, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Partner Mikrocreditna Foundacija for Agricultural Microenterprises

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