AFD Subsidiaries and Network
AFD is composed of a number of departments, subsidiaries and a network of local agencies in order to offer complementary services that address a wide range of development problems.
A Network of In-country Agents
AFD has more than 64 offices worldwide, with nine in the Overseas French Territories. This extensive network of local employees and agents allows AFD to make its funding, capabilities and know-how more readily and effectively available where it is needed.
AFD's Network of Specialists
Proparco : a Private Sector Finance Specialist
AFD and its subsidiary, Proparco (aka Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération économique), support sustainable economic growth in developing countries by offering a wide range of financial instruments and technical assistance to large and small businesses. AFD is Proparco’s majority shareholder, with 66.8% of its shares. Proparco was created in 1977 and endowed with €142.56 million in capital.
Of all bilateral development banks, AFD and its subsidiary, Proparco, support small and medium-sized businesses with the widest range of traditional and structured financial instruments. These financial instruments include grants; subsidies; guarantees; credit lines; extra-long-term loans; and private equity, as well as the most innovative credit and capital risk underwriting techniques. In terms of economic and social development, AFD and Proparco’s activities are focused on:
• Supporting economic growth
• Promoting and modernizing financial markets, as well as making them safer
• Enhancing access to health and education
• Protecting the environment and preserving biodiversity
• Bringing local businesses up to international standards
• Participating in the integration of regional economies.
In addition to AFD, Proparco’s shareholders include seven French financial organizations, including Groupe Natexis Banques Populaires, BNP Paribas and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations; ten international financial organizations, including the Development Bank of Southern Africa; and 20 industrial and service companies.
Banking and Real Estate Specialists in the French Overseas Territories
AFD’s network includes banking subsidiaries in New Caledonia, the BCI, and Socredo in Polynesia. These retail-type banks receive deposits and provide credit to both individuals and companies.
AFD also has shares in real estate companies in Martinique (Simar), New Caledonia (Sic), Guadeloupe (Sig), Reunion (SIDR), Guyana (Siguy and Simko) and Mayotte (Sim). These real estate companies are primarily in charge of promoting, managing and building subsidized housing.
CEFEB : a Training Specialist
AFD provides training for its partners and local funding recipients in order to transfer competencies and build local capacities that dovetail with its financing mission. AFD’s educational division, CEFEB (Centre d’Etudes financières, économiques et bancaires or Center for Banking, Economic and Financial Studies) is based in Marseilles, France. CEFEB is specialized in training, business-process engineering, and the transfer of knowledge and methodologies. CEFEB’s training programmes are tailored for business executives, as well as employees of banks and public administrations of the countries where AFD is active. They participate in workshops, strategic brainstorming sessions and share experiences at the center in Marseilles, as well as in programmes. CEFEB also organizes training in-company and in-country training sessions, as well. Since it was created in 1960, CEFEB has trained more than 10,000 executives. In recent years, there are nearly a thousand participants from 40 different country who go through the programme annually.
The FGEF : an Environmental Protection Specialist
AFD is commited to supporting sustainable development. Its specialized division, the FFEM (Fonds Français pour l’environnement mondial or French Global Environment Fund) was founded in 1994 by AFD together with the French government, and serves the goals of various French ministries, as well as AFD’s. The FFEM is specifically designed to finance projects related to such vital environmental priorities as combating climate change, protecting biodiversity, fighting desertification and deforestation, and protecting the ozone layer.