DBP wins SME Bank of the Year award

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) was recognized as the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Bank of the Year during The Asian Banker-Philippine Country Awards.

The DBP was cited for its efforts to make banking services more accessible to small businesses, as evidenced by its growing SME business and customer base.

 Its SME lending business rose 30 percent last year while its SME accounts also grew at a high-teen rate.

 “Over the years, the bank has also established a significant and highly developmental SME retail portfolio through its core strategy of availability, affordability and access. Moreover, its business expansion is supported by partnerships with local government units and various cooperatives,” the DBP said.

 A stringent evaluation process spanning three months based on a balanced and transparent scorecard determines the winners of The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards, and the positions of various retail banks in the region. 

The DBP is currently  implementing its Sustainable Enterprises for Economic Development (SEED) program which aims to empower SMEs and improve their access to financing by offering alternative ways of securing credit.

 Its key features include the allowance of alternative collateral as a means of securing the loan, flexible repayment terms with grace period based on cash flow, and minimal equity requirement.

“The program has a more comprehensive reach and scope covering all industries and special segment compared to other programs in the market,” the bank said.

The DBP is also continuously finetuning its technology to provide customer-centric services to SMEs.

 It recently launched the DBM digital banking portal (DBP2), which offers a complete suite of cash management solutions designed to provide convenient online banking services — such as electronic fund transfers, auto-debit arrangement and post-dated checks warehousing — to its corporate and institutional clients.

In addition, the DBP said it has improved its credit scoring system in partnership with the Innovations for Poverty Action to shorten the credit evaluation process of SME borrowers.