Proparco has allocated two ARIZ and EURIZ portfolio guarantees to Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire to support financing for Ivorian SMEs.

Client presentation

A subsidiary of the pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire (Ecobank CI) is a commercial bank with a nationwide network of 43 branches, including 26 branches in Abidjan and 17 branches in the rest of the country. It is today one of the leaders on the Ivorian banking market.

Project description

The EURIZ guarantee aims to support growth in the activity of Ivorian SMEs in high-impact sectors: green SMEs and start-ups under three years old, SMEs owned by women or young people and SMEs operating in the agriculture, health, education and digital sectors. It is the first EURIZ portfolio guarantee allocated to Ecobank CI and comes in addition to the PLFR3-1 and PLFR3-2 guarantees signed in December 2021. The EURIZ guarantee benefits from the support of the European Union and the European Development Fund, as well as the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), and is also part of Choose Africa.

Impact description

The EURIZ guarantee automatically covers 70% of each loan granted by the bank to eligible SMEs during the two years of allocation, meeting the criteria for the amount and maturity in the eligible sectors.