Bangladesh’s BRAC Bank Limited (BBL) has received a US$70mn loan for SME financing from a syndicate of investors. Led by the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) as mandated lead arranger, the five-year facility is divided between FMO (US$13.7mn), ACTIAM (US$3.8mn), the Opec fund for International Development (Ofid, US$15mn), the Development Bank of Austria (OeEB, US$10mn), the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO, US$10mn) and Swiss-based asset manager ResponsAbility (US$2.5mn), with an additional US$15mn to be provided by French development bank Proparco in 2015. The deal, claimed to be “the largest international syndicated loan for any bank in Bangladesh”, is expected to benefit SMEs in rural parts of the country, thanks to BBL’s extensive branch network.