Landbank Builders program named ‘Best SME Product’

Landbank of the Philip­pines’ (Landbank) Build­ers program was awarded the “Best SME Product” at The Asian Banker’s Phil­ippine Country Awards 2016.

The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the Philippine Inter­national Banking Conven­tion at the Shangri-La at the Fort, Bonifacio Global City.

The Bringing Urban­ization and Innovations thru Landbank’s Diverse Engineering Resource Support or Builders pro­gram provides business loans to small and medi­um enterprises (SMEs) in the local construction market.

It forms part of the bank’s contribution to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects of the na­tional government by ex­tending credit support to private and public sector players in the industry.

“This award is an af­firmation of what we at Landbank are doing to help the SME sector and other major development players, whom we consider as allies in promoting eco­nomic growth. Through the Builders program, we help contribute to the government’s thrust to promote inclusive growth through infrastructure de­velopment and also help create jobs in the pro­cess,” said Landbank Of­ficer-in-Charge Cecilia C. Borromeo.

Launched in 2014, the program crossed the billion peso-mark just a year after it was launched, with the bank’s SME loan book and deposits record­ing double-digit growth in the same year.

As of June 2016, the program generated rough­ly one-third or 29 percent of the outstanding reve­nue of the Bank’s SME business with loan releases amounting to P19.6 billion lent to 230 contractors.

This helped fund var­ious projects, including farm-to-market roads and bridges, telecommunica­tions infrastructure, resi­dential units, commercial buildings, sanitary land­fills, water and sewerage systems, sea walls, among other development proj­ects.

The Asian Bank­er Philippine Country Awards recognizes the most outstanding finan­cial products, services and organizations in the country and forms part of the prestigious awards programmes ran by The Asian Banker, covering the full spectrum of topics and areas that constitute the fi­nancial services industry.

Landbank also bagged both the first and second places in the inaugural Tal­ent Bank Philippines 2016 held as part of the Philip­pine Country Awards.

The Landbank Oper­ations Sector Chorale got the top prize with their all-original a cappella ar­rangement.

They will be repre­senting the Philippines in the Talent Bank Asia at The Asian Banker Sum­mit 2017 in Singapore.

The Landbank Got Talent All Stars with their modern hip-hop rendi­tion of traditional Filipi­no dances, meanwhile, won second place.

Talent Bank Asia is a new initiative launched by The Asian Banker this year to bring together and recognize the creativ­ity and talent of people in the financial services in­dustry.