Online financing firm reports ‘exponential’ growth
MANILA -Online financing firm AsiaLink Finance Corp. is pushing to expand its network across the country by a third to 160 branches from 118 sites by the end of this year after seeing a surge in profits, thanks to post-COVID recovery and a strong demand for used vehicles.
Asialink, which caters mainly to micro, small and medium enterprises, said in a statement its net income grew 43 percent to P2.65 billion in 2022 from about P1.85 billion a year earlier.
Its top line also ballooned by 44 percent to P3.1 billion from P2.2 billion. The company’s asset value went up by 39 percent to P11.367 billion from about P8.15 billion.
“[We have] been seeing exponential growth as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes into the background, allowing many industries to get back on track and seek financing to reinforce or expand their operations,” AsiaLink general manager Eileen Mangubat said.
Mangubat added that the Philippines had also seen an increasing demand for second-hand cars, where Asialink had established a niche in terms of financing.
Expanding footprint
She said that amid surging performance numbers, the company opened additional branches, hired more salespeople and partnered with more car dealers.
Currently, Asialink has over 1,000 employees and 118 branches nationwide. The company plans on having a total of 160 branches by the end of this year.
Further, Mangubat said Asialink had secured additional funding of some P2 billion from its credit lines with the Development Bank of the Philippines, Cebuana Lhullier, Small Business Corp., Philtrust Bank and Veterans Bank.
In May, AsiaLink chief executive Robert Jordan Jr. said nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs) like their company remained a key player in the Philippine lending industry as they accounted for nearly half of loans extended each year to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
P10.5-B portfolio
Citing data from the Asian Development Bank, Jordan said loans to MSMEs by microloan organizations, pawnshops and other NBFIs had topped $4.9 billion across the region in 2020.
Jordan noted that banks had lent around $10.3 billion to MSMEs which—while bigger than the portfolio of NBFIs—comprised just 2.4 percent of banks’ MSME overall lending.
He said that in 2022, Asialink had released P10.5 billion in total loans, a 25-percent increase compared with 2021 performance. These were granted to about 24,000 Asialink clients nationwide, of which 70 percent were MSMEs.
