Loan to Unicredit for Go Digital Pilot in BiH

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Overview

Provision of a senior unsecured loan of up to EUR 10m to UniCredit Bank dd ("UCB") under the Go Digital Pilot in Bosnia and Herzegovina programme (the "Programme"). The entire Programme is supported with donor funds in the total amount of EUR 9m from the European Union.

Project ID 53524

Status Repaying

Location

Bosnia and Herzegovina

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

Ivan Cubela
Ivan.Cubela@unicreditgroup.ba
+387 36 356 635
+387 36 356 227
https://www.unicredit.ba
Kardinala Stepinca bb 88000 Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina

Project ID 53524

Status Repaying

Location

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Business Sector

Financial Institutions

Notice Type

Private

Environmental Category

Approval Date

09 Aug 2022

Disclosure date

12 Aug 2022

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."

Loan to Unicredit for Go Digital Pilot in BiH (Bosnian) (PDF, 0.23MB)

Project description

Project objectives

The Project supports the aim of the Programme to: (i) improve SMEs' access to finance in order to invest additional resources to introduce EU standards through the provision of financing and investment incentives; (ii) pilot an approach to supporting SMEs that invest in automation and digitalisation with minimum 60% of funding to be invested in automation and digitalisation investments and minimum 10% of funding to be invested in only digital investments, (iii) support transition to a green economy ("GET technologies"), by targeting a GET-eligible share of at least 60%, and (iv) increase the awareness and knowledge of SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina ("BiH") through the Advice for Small Business services ("ASB") with a focus on automation and digitalisation projects.

Transition impact

ETI Score:65

Project contributes to the overall objectives of the Go Digital Pilot in BiH Programme, supporting the Competitive and Green TI qualities.

Competitive: The Project will be encouraging the competitiveness of SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina by (i) supporting SMEs in accessing finance towards EU standards investments; (ii) targeting the financing of a significant share of automation and digitalisation among those investments; and (iii) offering potential and participating sub-borrowers advice and know-how for overall greater competitiveness of SMEs with a focus of introducing and implementing automation and digitalisation investments.

Green: The Project will also contribute to the green transition impact quality by addressing energy efficiency as part of the eligible activities of investments of SMEs in BiH. The project will contribute to building a green economy in the country by facilitating the expansion of climate change mitigation investments and sharing the positive demonstration effect through on-lending to SMEs.

Client information

UNICREDIT BANK DD

UniCredit Bank d.d. ("UCB") is the largest universal commercial bank incorporated and operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has 17.8% market share by total assets (YE2021). The bank has 70 branches covering almost all major cities and towns in the Federation of BiH, served by 1,188 employees."

EBRD Finance Summary

EUR 10,000,000.00

Total project cost

EUR 10,000,000.00

Additionality

Additionality is achieved by combining the necessary long-term financing via UCB with TC and investment incentives into a package that promotes automation and digitalisation as well as green lending in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Environmental & Social Summary

Categorised FI (ESP 2019). UniCredit Bank dd is an existing client and its performance to date for existing exposures has been satisfactory. UniCredit Bank dd will be required to continue to comply with PRs 2, 4 and 9, and implement the EBRD's E&S Risk Management Procedures for Corporate, SME and Micro Loans including adherence to the expanded EBRD E&S Exclusion List and Referral List introduced with ESP 2019 and submit annual E&S reports to the Bank. Sub-borrowers financed through UniCredit Bank dd loan will be required to comply with national environmental, health, safety and labour (EHSL) requirements. The GET share associated with this transaction is 60%. The Project's use of proceeds or allocated multiple may include solar sub-projects. Such sub-projects will be managed in line with 'The Proposed Management Approach for Solar Supply Chain Risk Management' (CS/FO/21-35) and any subsequent guidance developed under that approach.

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

The entire Go Digital Pilot in BiH Programme is supported with grant funds from the European Union for (i) Technical Cooperation ("TC") of total EUR 1,600,500 and for financing of (i) Investment Incentive payments to sub-borrowers ("Non-TC") of total EUR 6,000,000.

Additionally, ASB, with a total of EUR 994,500 grant from the European Union, will support SMEs (that could be potential or participating sub-borrowers under the Programme) with direct advice, training and other outreach activities with a focus on automation and digitalisation priority areas. These funds will be spent according to ASB policies of co-payment.

TC: The TC includes support for a Project Consultant that will assist with the implementation and monitoring of the entire Programme and a separate Verification Consultant that will verify the technical implementation of the investments by the sub-borrowers before the incentive payment is released.

Non-TC: EUR 1,500,000 of grant funds for this Project are provided for investment incentives to sub-borrowers for the implementation of eligible investments in line with the Go Digital Pilot in BiH Policy Statement.

Company Contact Information

Ivan Cubela
Ivan.Cubela@unicreditgroup.ba
+387 36 356 635
+387 36 356 227
https://www.unicredit.ba
Kardinala Stepinca bb 88000 Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina

Implementation summary

PSD last updated

18 Aug 2022

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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Loan to Unicredit for Go Digital Pilot in BiH

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

Implementation summary

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)