RCBC gets $30-M IFC loan for SMEs in Yolanda-hit areas

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) has secured up to $30 million or P126 million in medium-term loan from International Finance Corporation (IFC) to fund small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Typhoon Yolanda-hit areas, the bank said in n a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Thursday.
 

"We consider this market segment instrumental to RCBC's lending growth and will continue to be a key focus area for the bank," RCBC president and CEO Lorenzo Tan said in a statement.

 

The loan aims to increase financing of SMEs, including women-led businesses, and spur job creation in the Yolanda hit areas.

 

"With 80 percent of micro, small and medium-size enterprises in the Philippines not having access to credit or the collateral to borrow from a bank, this loan is designed to help provide financing to these businesses, promote job creation, and diversify the country's economic base," IFC resident representative Jesse Ang said.

 

Yolanda swept across the central Philippines in November 8, 2013, leaving over 6,000 people dead and causing damage to property estimated at P35.5 billion.

 

A member of Washington-based World Bank Group, IFC is the global development institution focused on the private sector.

 

IFC, along with IFC Capitalization Fund, own an 11.34-percent stake in RCBC through investments disbursed in March 2011 and May 2013. – Danessa O. Rivera/VS, GMA News