UnionBank sees 30% jump in SME lending next year

MANILA, Philippines — Union Bank of the Philippines aims to grow its loan disbursements to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by a hefty 30 percent next year as the sector dominates 99.5 percent of the total number of companies in the country.

UnionBank business banking head Jaypee Soliman told reporters in a media roundtable that the Aboitiz-led bank sees its loan book for SMEs surging to P16 billion this year from about P9 billion to P10 billion last year.

To date, Soliman said the  bank has disbursed about P14 billion to SMEs all over the country.

“This year I’m targeting to hit  and end the year at P16 billion and by 2024 my target is to grow by at least 30 percent,” he said.

He pointed out that the figure does not include informal SMEs that borrow money via personal accounts.

According to Soliman, the repayment of the sector is around 90 to 92 percent.

Soliman said UnionBank aims to grow its client base to one million by 2030 from the current base of 130,000.

“The goal is to be able to power up one million SMEs,” Soliman said.

Dino Velasco, institutional marketing segment head at UnionBank, said the bank launched a new SME Business Banking app called UB Negosyante to cater to the needs of small companies.

Under the bank’s Power to Grow campaign, Velasco said UnionBank aims to inspire micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and help them with their business growth.

Velasco said the bank wants MSMEs to be aware that UnionBank is a partner for their journey.

The campaign helped in acquiring over 100,000 new to bank SMEs and increase the app’s usage.

The app also generated over 13 million fund transfers, 50,000 mobile check deposits, 500,000 bills payments, and 2,000 UPay users.

UnionBank’s customer base has now reached over 13 million, averaging over two million new customers per year from 2019.

The bank’s loan book went up by 18 percent to P530.99 billion from January to September this year versus last year’s P479.63 billion, while its deposit base inched up by six percent to P724.7 billion from P711.3 billion.