DBS Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (星展銀行台灣) aims to bolster its small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) loan business this year by raising total lending to companies guaranteed by the Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan (中小企業信用保證基金) to NT$15 billion (US$488.47 million) by the end of this year.
At the end of March, the bank’s total SME loans totaled NT$14 billion, up more than 20 percent from the same period last year, which enabled the company to rank second in the sector among foreign banks in Taiwan after Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (渣打銀行台灣).
Of the NT$14 billion, the bank’s lending to firms guaranteed by the government’s Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fund stood at NT$10.47 billion, marking the highest level among its foreign peers.
Kenneth Cheng (鄭克家), managing director of the institutional banking group at DBS Taiwan, said the bank usually offers loans to SMEs guaranteed by the government fund that total as much as 70 percent to 80 percent of their collateral.
Companies in the cultural and creativity sector are able to receive larger loans, he said.
SPEEDY LENDING
The bank has launched several programs targeting SMEs to ramp up its business this year, including a “Speedy Loan” (星速貸) program that allows enterprise customers that post more than NT$10 million in sales annually and have a clean credit rating to apply for a maximum NT$15 million loan after a five-day review process.
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