The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is seeing opportunities in growing Small Medium Enterprise (SME) business through franchising.
Junie Veloso, Head of BPI’s Business Banking Segment, said this is one of the reasons BPI supported the 27th Franchise Asia Philippines held in March at the SMX Convention Center in Manila.
“Franchises already have a tried and tested and ready business model. What business owners can do is adapt and tweak it a bit to suit their specific market or geographic location. We aim to make a positive business impact on these SMEs by providing relevant solutions that will help them achieve their business goals,” said Veloso of the potential for SME growth through adopting franchising as a business model.
READ MORE about BPI performance in the first quarter.
BPI has noted its SME clients have only availed of deposit accounts. and only 10 percent have used loans products and services.
“We believe SMEs play a key role in nation building. The SME market has a huge growth potential and we want to be there when it happens. This is part of what it means for us in BPI to pursue financial inclusion,” said Veloso to media.
In early 2019, BPI started working with risk management firm, Tongdun International, to speed up its processes for lending and credit scoring.
The artificial intelligence solutions are expected to help SMEs, franchisors, and franchisees, in expanding businesses using BPI’s loans products and services.
LEARN MORE about BPI’s automated banking features.
“Our clients can expect new loan products that will make use of a new score card for faster loan processing and approvals. We continue to make enhancements on our processes, and we’re looking at a 30-day turnaround time for standard applications, and even faster for certain products,” the BPI chief said.
BPI had already set up support for the needs of SMEs through its Business Banking Segment established 2018.
Are you an SME wanting to avail of BPI services? Tell us in the comments below.
If you have a Filipino Pride story to share or you want us to cover, tag us on social media with #GoodNewsPilipinas
Like, Follow, Subscribe to GoodNewsPilipinas.com Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Good News Pilipinas! TV on YouTube, new story notifications and e-mail newsletters for updates on more Filipino Pride stories.
