Asialink Finance Corp., one of the top online financing companies in the country, raised P1 billion from Yuanta Saving Bank and Small Business Corp. for relending to small- and medium-scale businesses.
SBC, a government entity, provided P600 million, while Yuanta, formerly Tongyang Saving Bank, lent P400 million.
Asialink lends about P1.3 billion a month to companies that find it hard to borrow from banks.
“The small and medium companies are the backbone of economies, big and small. They provide jobs in all corners of our country and help the economy grow. They are a strategic economic and social pillar and therefore should be supported,” Asialink chief executive Roberto Jordan said in a statement.
Jordan said while big as a sector, the insignificant individual sizes of SMEs prevent them from getting bank loans because of the tight lending policies and restrictions they need to comply with.
The big banks are also not designed to lend small amounts and work with hundreds of thousands of such small borrowers.
“Asialink fills that gap. We have more than 45,000 borrowers and our repayment rate are higher than that of banks. We charge higher than bank rates but we can approve a loan within a day for repeat clients and require fewer documentation. In the end, as their businesses grow, everybody is happy”, he said.
Jordan said the sector requires hundreds of billions of pesos each year to help these unbanked companies.
“Asialink will continue to grow with these corporations. The more funds we raise, the more we can lend to them for their businesses to prosper,” Jordan said.