The DFI Transparency Index assesses the transparency of DFI lending to financial intermediaries (including funds, banks, and non-bank financial institutions) as well as a subset of financial intermediary sub-investments. At the level of the financial intermediary, DFI investments are treated in the same way as DFI direct investments in other sectors and, as such, the same level of transparency is expected. Reflecting this, DFI investments in financial intermediaries may be included in the samples of projects that we analyse.

We limit our assessment of financial intermediary sub-investments to a sub-set of total on-lending activity. This is in recognition of the fact that a significant proportion of financial intermediary on-lending targets relatively low risk sectors, including MSME financing and housing finance. With this in mind, we limit our assessment to the disclosure of sub-investments of funds (such as private equity funds) and high risk and/or large on lending activities by banks. We define high risk and/or large as Category A (or equivalent) sub-investments and sub-investments that are larger than the thresholds established by the Equator Principles. The Equator Principles represent an internationally recognised standard for the identification of high-risk financing.