Visa plans to launch two new products for Filipino small and medium enterprises (SMEs) this year amid strong loan demand, Visa Philippines Country Manager Jeffrey Navarro announced Tuesday.

Navarro declined to disclose details but said Visa will partner with local banks to deliver payment solutions and business insights.

"Whatever it is that we do, it can help them in terms of running the business. Year on year, we can make a difference, especially for the lives of SMEs," he said at an event at the SM Aura Convention Center in Taguig City.

Navarro teased about the two new products after Visa and CIMB Bank Philippines, a digital bank, announced in February that their clients will be able to use the Visa Business Debit Card starting in the third quarter of the year.

The Visa card enables users to acquire discounts and privileges from select Visa merchants.

Navarro said these features complement the benefits of the upcoming CIMB business deposit account which are high-interest savings, free fund transfers, and a revolving credit facility.

A World Bank study estimates Filipino SMEs seek $221 billion in loans, yet formal lenders supply only $15 billion. In 2023, SME loans made up less than 10 percent of total business lending, compared with 73 percent for large firms, Visa research shows.

Gareth Parrington, Visa’s head of Commercial Money Movement for Southeast Asia, noted recent improvements in Philippine SME financing. The country scored 4.81 on the ASEAN SME Policy Index’s access-to-finance metric, just below the regional average of 6.

"We should take ease in the good progress, the adoption of digital innovation, the regulations pushing this forward. But we need to do more to help raise this bar," he said.