Asian Development Bank - Fighting Poverty in Asia and the Pacific
What's New  |   e-Notification  |   Sitemap  |   Contact Us  |   Help

Business Opportunities

Home : Opportunities : Business Opportunities : Advance Action

Procurement
Consulting Services
New Projects
Proposed Projects
Removed Projects
Advance Action
Procurement Notices
Consulting Services Recruitment Notices
Contracts Awarded
Prequalified Contractors
Shortlisted Firms
Other Notices
Procurement Plans


Advance Action on Recruitment of Consultants

Request for Expressions of Interest (International Recruitment)

Country/Borrower: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Title of Proposed Project: Loan to Bank of Ceylon

Subproject 1: Developing SME Business Unit

Name and Address of Implementing Agency:

Mr. Saliya Rajakaruna
Chief Financial Officer
Bank of Ceylon
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Email: cfo@boc.lk
Background:

1. The Bank of Ceylon (BOC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are currently preparing a project to support BOC in providing improved outreach to SME clients through cash flow-based lending and establishing infrastructure project finance business as a new business line to support through commercially viable subprojects the Government's Development Program. These terms of reference deal exclusively with SME finance.

2. The project is proposed to include a syndicated loan on a commercial basis and a loan from ADB's ADF Resources to fund technical assistance. BOC will be the borrower and executing agency for these loans.

3. Established in 1939, BOC is Sri Lanka's largest commercial bank. BOC is fully owned by the Government and the Government and its subsidiaries are its biggest client. Given its well reputed brand name in the market, advanced management systems, its implicit support by the Government, and satisfactory capital adequacy, BOC is the best rated public sector commercial bank and among the most successful commercial banks in Sri Lanka.

4. While SME access to credit may be reasonable through commercial banks in the growth zones of Colombo and Gampaha, the commercial banks have not fully penetrated the market potential in rural Sri Lanka. Today SME finance in Sri Lanka is primarily done via the banks' traditional lending process going through different approval stages and requiring substantial collateral rather than applying cash flow-based lending processes. The lengthy approval process and the absence of collateral and reliable book records of many SMEs, however, make lending either unattractive or unaccessible to a significant number of creditworthy companies.

5. Consistent with its mandate to support the Government's development policies, BOC recognizes the opportunity to develop cash flow-based SME finance as a profitable line of business in a proactive way. BOC management recognizes that it needs to invest in developing the expertise and leadership in a focused manner through the creation of a special SME finance unit that reports directly to the top management.

6. The objective of the proposed technical assistance component under the ADB project is to build a commercially viable SME Finance unit at BOC through internationally successfully tested financial services, especially credit, to private SMEs on a commercially viable and sustainable basis. The unit will primarily provide loans based on the borrower's creditworthiness as determined by its business cash flow.

Consulting Services:

7. The services under the TA component entail
  1. awareness building of BOC staff and Management;
  2. assistance in the development of market studies, business and resource plans, and
  3. based on the BOC board and management endorsement of an SME business plan, specific assistance to establish the BOC SME unit and develop the portfolio.

Download the detailed Terms of Reference(TOR).

8. The selected firm will be expected to provide the services in Sri Lanka.

9. Expressions of Interest stating the qualification of the firm and staff should be marked: "Bank of Ceylon Subproject 1: Developing SME Business Unit - Expression of Interest"
Attention: Chief Financial Officer,
Bank of Ceylon,
at cfo@boc.lk and

Peter Marro,
Senior Investment Specialist,
South Asia Department,
Governance Finance and Trade Division,
at pmarro@adb.org
Expressions of interest received until 15 March 2008 will be considered. The firm will be selected and engaged in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants.