MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Société Générale de Banque au Liban to Borrow $50m from EBRD for On-lending to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises in Lebanon

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently agreed to loan Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL), a Lebanese bank, USD 50 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas and another USD 50 million for firms involved in importing and exporting. The latter allocation falls under EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP), which was launched in 1999 and is intended to promote trade among Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Central and Western Asia. As of 2018, TFP engages approximately 100 issuing banks in 28 economies, with total approved financing limits exceeding EUR 1.5 billion (USD 1.8 billion). TFP also works with approximately 800 confirming banks, which have agreed to honor letters of credit from the issuing banks.

SGBL was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in the city of Beirut. As of 2017, the bank has USD 21.5 billion in total assets, USD 16.5 billion in customer deposits, a gross loan portfolio of USD 4.9 billion and 92 branches in Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon and UAE. SGBL is a member of Société Générale, a financial services company headquartered in France that has operations in 82 countries.

EBRD, which began operations in 1991, is headquartered in London. It is owned by 65 countries as well as the European Investment Bank and the European Union. The organization provides loans, debt securities, equity investments and technical assistance to micro- and small businesses via commercial banks and microfinance institutions. During 2017, EBRD invested EUR 9.7 billion (USD 11.3 billion) in projects spanning 67 countries, and it reported total assets of EUR 56.2 billion (USD 65.7 billion) as of December of that year.

By Michelle Fleming, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

EBRD fosters small businesses and trade in Lebanon
https://www.ebrd.com/news/2018/ebrd-fosters-small-businesses-and-trade-in-lebanon.html

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: TFP
https://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/trade-facilitation-programme.html

Société Générale homepage
https://www.societegenerale.com

Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) homepage
http://www.sgbl.com

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Mulling $17m Loan to Belinvestbank of Belarus for On-lending to Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-ebrd-mulling-17m-loan-to-belinvestbank-of-belarus-for-on-lending-to-micro-small-medium-sized-enterprises/

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