IFC approves $30-M loan to RCBC for SME financing

MANILA, Philippines - The International Finance Corp. (IFC) has approved a medium-term loan of up to $30 million to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) for the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including women-led businesses, spur job creation, as well as help support Super Typhoon Yolanda-affected SMEs.

The IFC is the private investment arm of the World Bank.

As the country’s sixth-largest private domestic bank, RCBC has a large pool of SMEs that need trade and working capital financing, IFC noted.

These enterprises, which comprise nearly 10 percent of all registered businesses in the country, account for 30 percent of total employment and about 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

IFC resident representative Jesse Ang said the loan is designed to help provide financing to the bank’s SME market, promote job creation, and diversify the country’s economic base.

Approximately 80 percent of micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSME) in the Philippines do not have access to credit or have the collateral to borrow from a bank.

Likewise, the World Bank’s investment arm provides advisory services to Rizal Microbank, a thrift bank subsidiary of RCBC, to improve access to finance for MSMEs in Mindanao and Southern Luzon.

IFC and the IFC Capitalization Fund have a total ownership stake of 11.34 percent in RCBC.

This year, the investment group provided P19 billion in financing for sustainable-energy projects through other banks, including the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and BDO Unibank Inc.