State-run Development Bank of the Philippines said it will streamline its menu of lending programs and reallocate resources towards initiatives to strengthen its position as the country’s infrastructure bank.
DBP president and chief executive Emmanuel Herbosa said the bank was reviewing its lending portfolio to concentrate on initiatives to provide optimal developmental impact to key client groups while ensuring profitability and sustainability for DBP amid the economic slowdown.
“We are rationalizing our lending programs to maximize available resources to our priority sectors as we assist them in coping with the challenges of a vastly-changing socio-economic landscape.” Herbosa said.
DBP is the eighth largest bank in the country in terms of assets and was designated as the country’s infrastructure bank by the national government. As of end-March this year, the bank has released P371-billion in loans to borrowers.
DBP has a number of loan programs that cater to four strategic sectors of the economy—infrastructure and logistics; micro, small and medium enterprises; environment; and social services and community development. Infrastructure and logistics accounted for 40 percent of the bank’s total loan portfolio.
Herbosa said DBP needed to update the features of some of its lending programs to be more responsive to the needs of the market as the bank geared up for a more expanded role under the various economic stimulus bills lodged in Congress.
He said the bank would work with institutional partners to ensure that resources for the critical sectors of the economy were maximized and remove redundancies in terms of program offerings vis-à-vis other government financial institutions.
“It is imperative for all financial institutions, such as the DBP, to productively use its available resources to benefit more stakeholders as we gradually emerge from this pandemic,” Herbosa said.