PHILGUARANTEE, RCBC beef up aid to small firms

State-owned Philippine Guarantee Corporation (PHILGUARANTEE) is extending financial support to Rizal MicroBank Inc. to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) grow.

PHILGUARANTEE president and chief executive officer Alberto Pascual and Rizal MicroBank President Simplicio Dela Cruz Jr. sealed the firms' financial partnership last Friday with the signing of related documents at BPI-Philam Life Tower in Makati City.

The partnership will enable Rizal MicroBank, the thrift bank of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), to access the P500 million MSME credit facility under PHILGUARANTEE.

An attached agency of the Department of Finance, PHILGUARANTEE has partnered with over 100 lending institutions, issuing over P354 billion in credit guarantees and supporting over 659,000 MSMEs, farmers and fisherfolks so far.

Loans to critical sectors

With the credit guarantee, the government agency encourages lending partners to increase loans to sectors that are critical for the country's long-term economic growth but remain financially underserved.

"The unbanked need more financial assistance to generate more livelihood," Dela Cruz said.

"We hope that our net income will improve as we manage our provisioning because of the guarantee you are providing us. But rest assured that we will keep on soliciting good quality accounts," he added.

To ease loan applications, Rizal MicroBank announced in 2020 that it had teamed up with Poland's NXTBNK to become the Philippines' first thrift bank to fully shift to an online data processing system called cloud.

Efficient automated system

"The platform enables the bank to utilize an efficient automated system. Having this mechanism would minimize the requirement for applying for microfinance and small business loans, allowing more time to service more clients within and outside the branch premises," Rizal MicroBank said.

RCBC, the thrift bank's parent company, reported that small and medium enterprises still make up 61 percent of its total loan portfolio, helping it generate P6.2 billion in net income in the first nine months of 2024.

"At RCBC, we are committed to fostering growth for Filipino consumers by leveraging digital solutions that make financial services more accessible and convenient, RCBC president and chief executive officer Eugene Acevedo said