Liberia—Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI)

DAI assisted LBDI in expanding its business, particularly to the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) segment. The banking sector in Liberia is extremely small, comprising only a handful of operational banks. Ecobank and LBDI dominate the sector, but LBDI has the highest capacity to respond to many of the financial markets, including corporate, real estate, domestic savings mobilization, and remittances (such as Western Union money transfers). LBDI was in need of stronger credit risk management procedures to ensure that its expansion plan was sustainable in the long run, particularly as it broadened its lending portfolio to include the riskier MSME segment.

Sample Activities

• Consult and advise on the bank’s lending capacity.
• Boost product development.
• Review and advise on the bank’s policies and procedures, staff development, and marketing and sales.
• Strengthen the bank’s credit risk management systems, policies, and procedures.
• Build up the bank’s treasury and operations risk management capacity.
• Assess the opportunities in the Liberian micro and small business sector, and develop a plan for the bank to improve its outreach to this segment.
• Assist with selection of a new core banking system and migration to the new platform once selected and ensuring that the IT hardware is updated and has the capacity to manage the bank’s existing and growing business.
• Provide knowledge transfer and human resource development, which builds the capacity of the staff.