PVB opens P150-M credit facility

The Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) approved a P150-million credit facility for the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp.’s (Quedancor) lending for micro, small and medium enterprises. PVB is a private commercial bank and a government depository bank.

Under the agreement, PVB will purchase up to P150-million Quedancor promissory notes and receivables from livelihood projects of urban and rural poor, microenterprises, SMEs, and food and agriculture retail enterprises. It is said to be the first of a kind facility effectively boosting Quedancor’s loan funds required by the SMEs and the so-called informal sector.

PVB president and chief executive officer Ricardo A. Balbido Jr. said that the credit facility was part of the bank’s strategic thrust "to provide credit facilities to promote and spur economic development especially in the countryside."

Balbido had earlier revealed that the bank was giving more and more emphasis to lending to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and microlending. In fact, it is transforming its thrift bank – Teachers Bank–into a micro-lending type financial institution.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Sec. Luis P. Lorenzo expressed hope that the initiative would have a multiplier effect in public and private sector partnerships.

"Unless we in the government and business sectors have teamwork, we cannot move the economy forward," he added.

Quedancor is a government agency mandated to provide guarantees and credit facilities to microenterprises and SMEs. It has managed to post P27-billion worth of credit assistance to more than 37 million beneficiaries nationwide through guarantees and direct lending.