Tokyo, Japan, October 24, 2013-IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will launch the first  bond program focused on creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
The issue will be arranged and distributed by Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd. and sold to Japanese retail  and institutional investors.

In many emerging economies, women are starting businesses at a faster rate than men. An  estimated 30 percent of registered businesses worldwide are owned by women. Yet only 5-10  percent of these businesses have access to commercial bank loans. Providing solutions to  address access to finance and other challenges will enable women entrepreneurs to realize their  full potential and make significant contributions to job creation and economic growth.

IFC is helping to increase access to finance and opportunity for women entrepreneurs by working  with companies and financial institutions that share our objective of strengthening and broadening  outreach to women. Since the launch of the Banking on Women program in late 2010, IFC has  more than 20 investments and advisory services projects, with a portfolio of close to $700 million  to women-owned SMEs in Eastern Europe, East Asia and Africa and Latin America.

As part of this effort, IFC is launching a bond program to support opportunities for women  entrepreneurs. Proceeds from the program will support IFC investments in this area, including  those that are part of the Banking on Women initiative.

Overview of the bond program and use of proceeds

The net proceeds of the issue of the Notes (which may be converted into US dollars) will be  allocated to a special account linked to IFC's lending operations that benefit women-owned  enterprises or women-controlled businesses. Proceeds will generally be used to support IFC  lending to financial intermediaries that are expanding their services for women-owned enterprises.  For purposes hereof, a women-owned enterprise is a business that is at least 51% owned by a  woman or women, or a business in which a woman or women hold at least 20% of the ownership  interests; and have at least 1 of the senior executive roles (e.g. Chief Executive Officer, Chief  Operation Officer, President, Vice-President); and women hold at least 30% of seats on the board  of directors where a board exists.

"Women in the private sector make important contributions to sustainable growth and shared  prosperity," says Mr. Jingdong Hua, IFC Vice President and Treasurer. "At IFC we focus on  promoting opportunities for women-as leaders, as entrepreneurs, as employees, as consumers,  and as stakeholders in business and government. Women play critical roles in all aspects of public  and private life. But the fundamental reason for why we focus on creating opportunities for women  is that we simply cannot justify excluding half of the world's population from creating opportunities  for themselves and others."

Mr. Akio Takahashi, Deputy President of Daiwa Securities Group Inc., commented as "Movement  of empowerment promotion of women can be observed worldwide in recent years. However, a lot  of women who cannot maximize their ability and power still exist. Especially in developing  countries, women face with various problems such as limited access to knowledge and finance  source. In September of this year, the Japanese government indicated its plan of official  development assistance in excess of USD 3 billion over the next three years towards supporting  women. Daiwa Securities Group has also taken initiatives to establish variety of support systems  for women and to promote women's activities in society. We are very pleased and honored to deal  with "Banking on Women Bonds", becoming the first themed bond with a focus on Women, in  cooperation with the International Finance Corporation. Our one of the roles as a securities  company is to contribute to society through financial functions. We will continue to work on to  utilize private funds for resolution of social issues and to strive in order to contribute to the  sustainable development of society."

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