Asialink Finance secures P1-B fund for relending to SMEs

MANILA  -Small and medium-sized enterprises are assured of continued financing opportunities as Asialink Finance Corp. has raised P1 billion from Yuanta Saving Bank and Small Business Corp. (SBC) for relending to SMEs.

Of the total amount, P600 million was provided by state-firm SBC while Yuanta, formerly Tongyang Saving Bank, lent P400 million.

Asialink CEO Roberto Jordan said SMEs must be supported as these are the backbone of economies like the Philippines, where they provide jobs across the country.

Jordan said that SMEs’ relatively insignificant individual sizes are a bar to getting bank loans because of the tight lending policies and restrictions banks need to comply with.

Filling the gap

He added that the big banks are also not designed to lend small amounts and work with hundreds of thousands of such small borrowers, Jordan said.

READ: Online financing firm reports ‘exponential’ growth

“Asialink fills that gap. We have more than 45,000 borrowers and our repayment rate is higher than that of banks,” Jordan said.

The CEO said Asialink charges higher than bank rates but can approve a loan within a day for repeat clients and require fewer documentation.

There is still so much to be done in the sector that requires at least hundreds of billions of pesos each year to help these unbanked companies, he said.

READ: Asialink eyes bigger share of consumer financing mart

Last August, Asialink said it was pushing to expand its network of branches across the country by one-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.

Currently, Asialink has more than 1,000 employees and 118 branches nationwide. The company plans on having a total of 160 branches by the end of this year.