Citystate Savings Bank Inc. targets to grow its micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) loan portfolio, from 10 percent of total loans at present to 25 percent this year.
Newly appointed Citystate President Benjamin V. Ramos said the MSMEs sector is the niche market for thrift lenders like Citystate.
“We’re focusing on that particular segment. We cannot compete with the big universal and commercial banks so we have to provide them [MSMEs] with more personalized services that the big banks cannot offer. Growing the MSMEs is our main thrust for this year,” he said at the sidelines of the national convention organized by the Chamber of Thrift Banks.
“We’re concentrating on consumer lending, such as jewelry loans, car financing and market vendor loans,” he quickly added.
Citystate CEO and Vice Chairman Andres Narvasa Jr. said bank funds set aside for MSMEs is rather small, comprising only 10 percent to 15 percent of total, while the remaining 85 percent to 90 percent are corporate loans and housing.
“We target to grow our MSME loan portfolio to 20 percent, or 25 percent from 10 percent to 15 percent. The loan amount ranges from P500,000 to P3 million per borrower,” according to Narvasa.
Ramos said more than tapping the MSME market, the bank will also leverage its relations with sister companies within the ALC Group of Companies.
“We had the bank reorganized. All preparations are in place to fully maximize the synergy within the ALC group, which has a strong client base. We have realty, car dealership, securities and insurance. The insurance company is a big provider of insurance products for government employees like the Department of Education,” Ramos said.
Citystate targets a network of 30 branches by the middle of the year even as it aims to become a commercial or perhaps a universal bank in the near future.
“We need to expand. The directive of the board is to expand, to make it big, to become a commercial, and eventually, a universal bank. This year we put up the proper infrastructure to support our plans. In 2016 we will reassess and determine the increase in number of branches and make sure the plans are good and stable,” Narvasa said.
“We’re not actively looking for partnerships but there are foreign and local investors knocking our door,” Narvasa said. The bank’s total resources aggregated P4.194 billion as of end-December 2014. Its loan portfolio totaled P1.963 billion the same year.
Image credits: Alysa Salen