PAGASA Philippines Lending Company, Inc. (PPLCI) is an institution providing microfinance services to low income people in the Philippines. PPLCI is a subsidiary of ASA International, one of the largest Microfinance Institution in the world that operates in the Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Kenya, Uganda, Myanmar, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.  It is a duly registered company with Securities and Exchange Commission holding SEC Registration No. CS200708977 approved on June 7, 2007 under its former name Catalyst Microfinance Investors Philippines, Inc. (CMIPI).

PPLCI seeks to pursue its mission in providing micro credit services to economically poor entrepreneur Filipinos and aims to empower them  by helping them access credit for their income generating activity, help increase family income that will improve their economic condition and become social investors in community development using the well-known ASA Methodology. It also aims to create employment for the community and/or locality supporting micro projects to the members and job placement in the company.

PPLCI envisioned serving more micro-entrepreneurs in the country by expanding its operation all throughout the country particularly in the countryside area and aim to reach millions of borrowers through the following company key strategies:

• Efficient fund utilization and effective internal control;
• External linkaging for resource or fund generation;
• Cost effectiveness for sustainability and continuous staff development;
• Experienced senior management in the field of microfinance;
• Lean organizational structure and standardized product and services and scalability in the operation.

Philippines area of operation

Series of trainings for group leaders were conducted on 2012 facilitated by the Area Managers and Branch Staff that primarily aims to promote group building and solidarity among all

Group Leaders recite the pledge during the training and Development Officers were given time to discuss and share with group leaders their current situation on dealing with their respective group.

Certificate of Participation is handed over to the Group Leaders attended the training.
A Special Certificate is given for the Best Group with excellent and outstanding performance.

Eight (8) branches of the Corporation had been affected mainly by the typhoon- Iligan 1 & 2, Tandag, Cagayan de Oro 1 & 2, Nabunturan, Monkayo and Kapalong, and some areas in other branches.

The Management has approved the adjustment of amortization to all affected borrowers on December 2012.

A wrecked school in Cateel, a town that was devastated by the typhoon’s strong winds. The storm destroyed thousands of homes, and many families are now living in cramped, temporary accommodations. PAGASA Lending is not the owner of this picture.

A truck passes among dead coconut trees destroyed by Typhoon Bopha. The typhoon, which hit on December 4, has caused major damage to infrastructure and agriculture in the southern Philippines. PAGASA Lending is not the owner of this picture.

A woman looks for materials as she helps her husband rebuild their house in Cateel. PAGASA Lending is not the owner of this picture.

Children line up on the road to beg after the typhoon left them homeless. PAGASA Lending is not the owner of this picture.

Giant waves and flashfloods caused by the typhoon extirpated concrete tombs in Cateel. PAGASA Lending is not the owner of this picture.

•  Flood in Mindanao– Mindanao Region has yet to recover from the devastation of Typhoon Pablo on December 2012 which killed hundreds of people and leaves more than 50,000 families homeless.

Sometime on January 2013, people of Mindanao experienced another devastation of nature through flooding and landslide affecting the borrowers of the Corporation in several branches.

• Fire Razed at Cainta- On January 17, 2013 a fire broke out in a residential area at Cainta that razed some 200 residential houses.

About six (6) groups of Pasig Rosario Branch are located in the affected area which borrowers/members’ houses and businesses were burned and now temporarily staying at health center and covered court.

With this incident a one- month moratorium of amortization is given to all affected members.

The country ranked 4th out of 55 in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s “Global Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment 2012,” jumping two places from ranking 6th last year.

This, as it highlighted significant changes which are seen to promote the development of an enabling microfinance environment.

These include central bank Circular No. 744, which redefined microfinance loans to include amounts up to P300,000 from the previous P150,000.

Also noted was the House approval of a draft law which allow foreign ownership of up to 40 percent in rural banks.

The country’s score improved by 4.8 points to 63.3 index points calculated based on its performance in regulatory framework and supporting institutional framework.

The Philippines was one of only three Asia countries in the top 10 of the report, which covers a year’s period to June 2012.

This year’s overall ranking was topped by Peru, Bolivia and Pakistan. Below the Philippines, meanwhile, were Kenya, El Salvador, Colombia, Cambodia, Mexico and Panama.

In terms of regulatory framework, the Philippines shared the top spot with Peru, scoring 80 points.

“The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central bank) continues to promote an enabling environment for microfinance, seeing it as one of its key poverty reduction efforts,” the report said.

A number of public sector institutions meanwhile provide wholesale funds to support the sector’s growth, it added.

Although improving by five points, the Philippines posted a slightly weaker performance, scoring 50 and sharing the 15th place with Brazil, Nicaragua and Uruguay.

“The industry remains relatively fragmented, as there is no one dominant institutional type, set of institutions, or network and multiple regulatory and supervision regimes owing to the diversity of the types of service providers,” the report said.

The country’s weak showing in this indicator may also attributed to a low “stability” score, particularly in terms of “political stability.”

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ph-among-top-countries-in-microfinance–says-study.html

Posted on 10/17/2012 11:30 AM  | Updated 10/17/2012 1:51 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Only 3 million poor Filipinos or those living under $1.25 per day had access to microfinance loans in the Philippines in 2010, according to a study released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday, October 17.

In a report titled Microfinance Development Strategy 2000: Sector Performance and Client Welfare, the ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department said this means that the penetration rate of microfinance loans among the poor was only at 14%.

Measured against a total population of 94.1 million in the Philippines, this means microfinance loans only reached 3.2% of Filipinos.

The ADB said while this already showed an improvement in microfinance penetration in the country, the microfinance penetration rate among the poor was significantly lower than Vietnam’s and Cambodia’s 75% and 32%, respectively.

According to the study, microfinance loans in Vietnam covered 8.5 million or 9.8% of its total population of 86.5 million as of 2010. In Cambodia, the ADB said there were 1.3 million covered by these loans or 9.1% of its total population of 14.3 million.

Penetration rates compare active borrowers against a potential client base of the population living below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day, the ADB said. Despite the growth in outreach and microfinance providers in Cambodia and Philippines, penetration rates were only 32% and 14%, respectively.

POOR ACCESS. The table shows how many poor people have access to microfinance in 6 countries. The image was obtained from the report.

Microfinance loans aplenty

The low penetration rate of microfinance loans in the country contrary to their availability. The study stated that the Philippines actually had a total of 14,935 microfinance providers, higher than in most countries. This was largely due to the high number of cooperatives that offer microfinance loans.

Further, the ADB said the Philippines was the second-largest recipient among 6 countries that received microfinance assistance from the ADB, accounting for a share of 19%.

Funds extended to the Philippines by ADB reached $173 million, of which $150 million was a sector development program loan approved in 2005.

During the 2000 to 2010 period, ADB support to 6 countries, including the Philippines, amounted to $916 million or nearly 33% of ADB’s total microfinance portfolio.

Program and sector development loans comprised the largest amount among the modalities of assistance at $660 million, while grants and Technical Assistance operations were the smallest at $18 million.

Microfinance has been mainstreamed in the banking sector and is supervised by the central bank. In the Economist Intelligence Unit 2011, of 55 surveyed countries globally, Pakistan and Philippines both ranked first and Cambodia third in the category of regulatory framework and practices, and they were 5th, 17th, and 25th, respectively, in terms of the supporting institutional framework. This suggests strong regulatory regimes and good prospects for microfinance in these countries, the ADB said.

Regional trend

In a statement, ADB said the penetration of microfinance among the poor in Asia and the Pacific remains low. As of the end of 2010, only 20% of the population living below the poverty level of $1.25 per day had direct access to microfinance services in 21 developing countries receiving ADB microfinance support. This level was below ADB’s goal.

Microfinance is seen in the region as an important means to helping low-income households take advantage of economic opportunities and improve living standards.

Despite the increasing popularity of microfinance in recent years, expanding the access of poor households to institutional financial services remains a great challenge to governments and development agencies, ADB’s Director General of Independent Evaluation, Vinod Thomas said in a statement.

MICROFINANCE LOANS. The chart shows the performance of ADB’s microfinance lending between 2000 and 2010. The image was obtained from the report.

The study said that for microfinance to have a greater impact on reducing poverty in the region, it needs to better target the poor and focus more on educating them in using basic financial services. Effective linking of microfinance services to complementary pro-poor interventions is also urged.

ADB said around 2.7 billion people worldwide or 70% of the adult population in the world’s developing countries, have no access to formal financial services, such as savings or checking accounts. They represent a key and still largely untapped market segment for financial inclusion.  Rappler.com

source: http://www.rappler.com/business/14331-only-3-m-poor-pinoys-have-access-to-microfinance-adb

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The Philippine Economic Situation
The Philippine economy does not face healthy prospects. It has been hit largely by negative external developments, including the European debt and economic woes, the weak recovery of the U.S. economy and the supply chain disruptions due to the flooding in Thailand. The Filipino public has a negative sentiment about the trend.

In addition, the country was hit by numerous typhoons that resulted in heavy damages, among others, to the country’s agriculture and infrastructure sectors. NEDA estimates that the total damages caused by typhoons Pedring, Quiel and Sendong alone represent about 1.54 percent of the fourth quarter GDP.

However, notwithstanding the negative shocks to the economy, bright spots remained. Filipino people refuse to give up. Department of trade and Industry (DTI) data suggests that the microentrepreneur segment of society has been growing steadily since the beginning of 1990s. While there was a general economic slowdown during the Asian crisis in the last decade, the microenterprise segment has since then recovered. Each microenterprise is bound to need small loans from Microfinance operators during the course of the business cycle.

The National Strategy for Microfinance
The current aggressive government support for the Microfinance industry is timely and appropriate. Prepared by the National credit Council, the National Strategy for Microfinance aims to provide access to financial services to the majority of the poor households and microenterprises which started in 2005. It has liberalized the private sector to contribute and plays a major role in enabling the environment for the efficient functioning of markets. With government support in terms of concessional funds and capacity building services, this is definitely the best time to be in the business. For the 5 million poor needing credits for microenterprises, access to microcredit/finance and markets will be part of the solution by creating jobs for themselves and work for others. (Paradox of growth by Lila Ramos Shahani, an assistant secretary of the National Anti-poverty Commission)