17 March 2010
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN – UNICON awarded EBRD contract for Environmental and Social Due Diligence Training of Azerbaijani Financial Institutions (FI).
The objective of the training programme is to update the financial intermediaries on the EBRD’s (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) environmental guidelines that were revised in 2008 and on the supporting tools available to help manage the environmental and social issues associated with on-lending and investment operations.
Regulatory Analysis: The Consultant will determine local environmental permitting and regulatory requirements which need to be addressed by loan applicants and investee companies. The Consultant will identify any likely future permitting or regulatory developments. The Consultant will also review appropriate legislation on environmental liability and determine the extent and conditions under which the FI and the Bank may be exposed to environmental risk/liability.
Institutional Analysis and Monitoring: The target FI's existing credit and investment activities of the target FIs will be examined from an environmental and social perspective to determine the adequacy with which environmental and social due diligence is presently conducted by credit officers and how the Bank's environmental and social requirements have been met. The Consultant will also undertake monitoring site visits of a selection of loans/investments to provide insight into the nature of the environmental issues that confront the FI and the way in which these are currently addressed by the FI. For any high risk investments the Consultant will evaluate the nature and extent of these risks and assess if anything can be done to reduce the FI's exposure.
FI Staff Training: The Consultant will prepare materials to train target FI credit and management staff in the implementation of the environmental and social procedures based on the requirements of the new EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy (2008) and specifically PR9. Where possible the training will also include Human Resource Management staff responsible for training employees and/or middle or senior managers who have overall responsibility for environmental risk management and implementation of the EBRD’s environmental and social procedures.
Evaluation of Environmental Support Services: The Consultant will assess internal environmental & social capacity/capabilities of the target FI, and will identify capable local environmental and technical experts who could assist the target FI in conducting environmental and social due diligence and monitoring, summarising their strengths and weaknesses.
The following banks will participate in this programme:
- Muganbank
- UniBank
- Bank Respublika
- Access Bank
- AG Bank
- Rabitabank
- Demirbank
- MBASK Insurance
