Impact of COVID-19 on our investment process

FMO has increased its financial and non-financial support to existing customers to help them cope with the pandemic. At the same time, travel restrictions have reduced our ability to onboard new customers and execute on-site due diligence (DD). FMO has made more use of remote DD to service existing customers and to onboard a select number of new customers.

The pandemic has also affected the way in which we monitor our portfolio. We held regular portfolio meetings to discuss the most recent developments in our sectors and regions. We have significantly reduced our on-site visits due to the pandemic and increased the frequency of engagement with our customers through regular phone calls or virtual meetings. Since the beginning of the crisis, several customers requested temporary payment deferrals or a waiver of financial covenants. FMO has worked closely with European DFIs (EDFIs) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to align our approach.