Heller Net Sud, the Japanese-Chilean firm specialising in factoring and leasing, has announced that Chile’s bank regulator on Wednesday granted it a provisional license to create a bank aimed exclusively at small and medium sized businesses.
HNS is 50% owned by the Chilean businessman Andres Ergas and 50% owned by Heller International, a unit of Japan’s Fuji Bank Ltd and the world’s largest factoring company.
The license provides a ten month period for starting up the bank. HNS has declared that it plans to provide loans to small and medium sized businesses totalling about 100 billion pesos (US$178 million).
HNS were the market leaders in the Chilean factoring industry in 1999, with 22% of the total debtors’ portfolio.
BCR Publishing
