The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $50-million loan to Asialink Finance Corporation to help it support more small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

ADB said it approved the loan on 7 November to fund additional operations of Asialink, a non-bank firm lender with mostly SME accounts or 65.2 percent of the total loan portfolio as of the first quarter of the year.

The multinational institution said Asialink can use the loan proceeds to build additional branches across the country.

Citing the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2021 Financial Inclusion Survey, the ADB shared that traditional banks lending to micro-enterprises and SMEs, collectively known as MSMEs, accounted for only four percent of the country’s banking system.

“Lack of access to financial services will make it challenging for MSMEs to recover from external shocks such those brought by natural calamities which can exacerbate the poverty situation in the country,” the ADB said in its August release of the preliminary analysis on poverty and social conditions among entrepreneurs as part of the Asialink project.

Expanding women-owned businesses

Specifically, ADB stressed that the loan will expand women-owned businesses in the Philippines making up 44.1 percent of the total 55,432 Asialink borrowers in the first quarter.

The majority or 32.6 percent of all borrowers were engaged in trade, followed by food and support services (27 percent), and transportation and communication (19.6 percent).

However, in terms of business size, the World Bank’s report in 2025 revealed only 16 percent of medium enterprises in the Philippines and Southeast Asia were owned by women.

Apart from limited customer channels for lending nationwide, ADB said Asialink can use the loan to improve borrowing processes and design loan products specifically for women.

An ADB survey on Filipino women entrepreneurship in 2023 revealed that 58 percent deemed financial access still difficult.

Perceived complex application processes

“Women entrepreneurs are more hesitant to apply for funding than male-owned MSMEs due to the perceived complexity of application processes, documentation requirements and cost,” ADB said.

ADB said banks and other lenders might be struggling to assess women’s financial capability to repay business loans as most of them use their personal accounts for business purposes.

Only 17 percent of women entrepreneurs had business accounts, ADB said in its report on Filipino women entrepreneurs last year.