Women at the Helm - Planters Development Bank

SMENewslineAPEC Financial Institutions dealingwith SMEs meet in SingaporeRepresentatives from different financial institutions from eleven APEC-membereconomies recently gathered in Singapore for the 10th Annual Meeting of APECFinancial Institutions dealing with small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Representingthe Philippines is Planters Development Bank (Plantersbank) headed by its chairmanand CEO Ambassador Jesus P.Tambunting. The 2-day summitfocused largely on how financialinstitutions can further improveSME financing in the region dueto the growing number of SMEs,many of whom are not able togain access to financing. Hosteconomy, Singapore, reportedthat SMEs currently accountfor half of Singapore’s grossdomestic product and two-thirdsof their workforce. As in othercountries, a common problemfaced by SMEs is the difficulty ingetting credit because lendingto SMEs has always beendeemed risky. In an interview,Ambassador Tambunting said,“We have to be financiallystable, we have to be profitable.Supporting SMEs is considereddifficult, costly, and risky but ourexperience in the last 40 yearsproved that the SME business isa viable and sustainable sectorfor financing.”Last year, the Philippines playedhost to the annual meetingwith Plantersbank taking thelead being the lone Philippinerepresentative to the APECSME. Next year’s summit willbe held in Taiwan.SME Interactive Web Solutions, Inc. the country’s lead IT solutions providerfor small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has recently added to its line ofnetwork and services with their recent partnership with Weepay PaymentProcessing Corp. (WEEPAY) and Cashsense. Through WEEPAY, SMEInteractive Web Solutions, Inc. will offer Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals andan e-Commerce payment gateway facility to its merchant clients. Thisservice is expected to help increase their sales, eliminate risks due to theftand errors, and the option to transform their web page to a revenuegeneratingchannel.The partnership with Cashsense, on the other hand, will bring in theneeded support for online SME merchants to increase their on-line sales bygiving their consumers the option to make over-the-counter payments atany Cebuana Lhuillier or 7-Eleven outlet.IT solutions forSME Merchants“We intend to provide SMEs with the needed IT solutions to enable theirbusiness to operate more efficiently and thereby become more profitable”,says SME Interactive Web Solutions, Inc. managing director Ma. Angela T.Padilla. “The partnership with WEEPAY and Cashsense will further help ourmerchant SMEs grow their business through online and over-the-countertransactions”, adds Padilla.SME | 4