Green Loan to Romania Unicredit Consumer Financing

Project Description

A senior unsecured loan of up to RON 100 million (approximately EUR 20 million equivalent) to UniCredit Consumer Financing IFN SA (“UCFin” or the “Company”), a non-banking financial institution based in Romania, to support green consumer financing solutions.

Project Objectives

The transaction will allow UCFin to continue extending green consumer financing solutions to its clients. Sub-project eligibility will be confimed by EBRD’s Green Technology Selector and 100% of the proceeds will be financing green projects in line with EBRD’s Green Economy Transition (“GET”) eligibility criteria.

Transition Impact

ETI score: 61

The project contributes to supporting the Green and Competitive TI qualities.

Primary Quality: Green – all of EBRD proceeds will be financing green projects in line with EBRD’s Green Economy Transition (“GET”) eligibility criteria.

Secondary Quality: Competitive – 140% of EBRD’s loan proceeds will be directed towards green consumer financing solutions for the retail market segment thereby increasing awareness of Romanian consumers towards energy savings and corresponding cost benefits derived from purchasing and installing green technology in their homes.

Client Information

UNICREDIT CONSUMER FINANCING IFN SA

Established in 2008 as a non-banking financial institution, UCFin is one of the largest consumer finance companies in Romania. The Company is active across several market segments, including personal loans, car loans, credit cards and consumer POS (Point of Sale) financing with retailers. UCFin’s shareholders are UniCredit Bank SA in Romania (50.1%) and UniCredit S.p.A. (49.9%), a pan-European banking group based in Italy.

EBRD Finance Summary

RON 100,000,000.00

Total Project Cost

RON 100,000,000.00

Additionality

Additionality: The project’s additionality stems from (i) higher environmental standard-setting, (ii) optimized financing structure and (iii) EBRD’s knowledge sharing, all of which are material to the timely realisation of the project’s objectives, and strengthening of the client’s capacity to continue offering financing for green consumer solutions.

Environmental and Social Summary

Categorised FI. UCFin is an existing client of the Bank whose E&S performance was satisfactory. For this new transaction UCFin will need to comply with the EBRD’s Performance Requirements 2, 4 and 9 and submit annual environmental and social reports to the Bank.

Company Contact Information

Celerin Badea
ucfin.contactclienti@unicredit.ro
+40 21 200 2020
+40 21 200 9701
https://www.ucfin.ro/
Bd. Expozitiei 1F, et 6, sector 1, Bucharest.

PSD last updated

04 Apr 2023

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 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 the associated Performance Requirements (PRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting “environmentally sound and sustainable development”.  The ESP and the PRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation as well as to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders’ concerns and grievances, in particular, about environmental and social 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 additionally requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts arising from 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 activities of the Bank 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 Bank believes that identifying and resolving issues at the project assessment approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts, and also helps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.

OCCO is also responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, both 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. All matters reported will be handled by OCCO for follow-up. All reports, including anonymous ones, will be reviewed. 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 sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders so as to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations following its entry into force on 1 January 2020. 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 (e.g. 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 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; how to submit a Request for review; or contact IPAM  via email ipam@ebrd.com to get guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.