The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said it was expanding its loan exposure to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by about P2 billion this year.
Melecio Kimpo, BPI vice president and provincial lending head, said the bank's outstanding loan portfolio for SMEs was about P10 billion nationwide.
He said the growth of SMEs, including those in Mindanao, had fuelled the bank's optimism that it would get more clients by the end of the year.
"The P2 billion is a conservative estimate," Kimpo said.
Kimpo said BPI's main reason for tapping the growing SME sector was that borrowers from this sector were meticulous in paying their obligations. "Its risk factor has been steadily going down."
"Our past due rate in this sector is about 5 per cent, down from 6 per cent last year," he said.
