British International Investment

Citibank SCF

AfricaFood & Agriculture

Citibank is a global leader in trade and supply chain finance solutions.

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

We entered a risk-sharing agreement with Citibank, for the purpose of supply chain finance across Africa. Our commitment of up to $100 million allows Citibank to increase annual supply chain finance volumes in Africa by up to $400 million.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact

Improved economic opportunities and resilience through access to supply chain finance products (8.3, 8,10)

How?

Primary Secondary

Economic enabler: Our agreement with Citibank will allow the bank to provide supply chain finance products in Africa. This provides suppliers of large buyers with the option of receiving the discounted value of what they are owed for goods delivered, prior to their actual due date and therefore an opportunity for earlier and faster repayment of invoices. The cost of capital to the supplier is aligned with the stronger credit rating of its buyer rather than its own and therefore lowers the supplier’s cost of capital. This allows suppliers to better manage their cashflows, liquidity and risk while improving opportunities for productive and more frequent economic participation, ultimately leading to increased revenues, business growth and job creation or retention.

Catalysing markets: Supply chain finance is still nascent in Africa and the continent currently accounts for only 1 per cent of global receivables finance turnover. Our risk cover will help Citi to roll out the product at a larger scale which, if successful, can demonstrate the viability of receivables financing in Africa and attract additional capital in the future.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Suppliers and their employees

The pipeline includes South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda and Kenya.

Employees will be low-/high-skilled workers of suppliers which are small, medium and large enterprises operating across a wide variety of industries.

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

The pipeline includes six large buyers with over 4,000 suppliers in total, but onboarding is at the choice of the supplier and not all suppliers will join. With our risk cover, Citi will be able to add up to $400 million per year in additional supply chain finance volumes, effectively increasing its current programme in Africa by an additional 50 per cent.

  • Duration: The programme will be on a three-year rolling basis.
  • Depth: Small suppliers will benefit more than larger ones, due to general lower access to capital and the larger difference in their credit ratings compared with the buyers. Impact is expected to be deeper in countries where suppliers face higher barriers to access credit.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: Citi will not be able to increase the volume of its supply chain finance programme in Africa without risk cover. No other commercial actors are willing to take risk on this product in Africa.
  • Value additionality: Potential to develop a women s economic empowerment programme to increase the inclusion of female suppliers across the supply chains

Grid score

Grid Score

To help us direct our investments, we previously used a tool called the Development Impact Grid. It scored investments out of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in a country and the propensity of the sector to generate employment. This tool was used for investments until the end of 2021. Since 2022 it has been replaced by the Impact Score.

1.28-1.68

Risk

Execution Risk
  • Citi may fail to scale the programme and/or diversify meaningfully outside of South Africa.

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D4324
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    Africa
    Country

    The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.

    :
    Africa
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Food & Agriculture

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Guarantee
    Start date :
    December 2021
    Amount :
    $100m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    USA

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