A US$1.35 million grant will help strengthen financial institutions in which ADB invests to ensure that ADB's private sector transactions are as high impact as possible.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) works with financial institutions - banks, insurance companies, nonbank credit companies, leasing companies, exchanges, and depositories - to help further mobilize savings and extend credit, and to help deliver ADB funds to sectors that cannot efficiently be reached directly by ADB's operations.
The financial institutions ADB chooses to work with are high-potential ones that would benefit both from financial assistance and knowledge transfer.
The grant will help improve corporate governance, combat money laundering and corruption, improve environment and social safeguards, and increase penetration into the small- and medium-sized enterprises market, with each activity customized to the needs of selected institutions.
The grant will target financial institutions that are or are expected to become ADB's borrowers and investees, likely based in key markets where ADB already has a dedicated staff for private sector operations, such as the People's Republic of China, India, Philippines, and Thailand.
“ADB's private sector operations will concentrate on transactions offering the right combination of financial and developmental opportunities,” says William Willms, an ADB Principal Structured Finance Specialist.