Friday, March 25, 2011
AS IT continues to push its expansion this year, GM Bank is looking for ways to enhance the small and medium-sized enterprises' (SME) access to financing to support their growth.
Tomas S. Gomez IV, GM Bank president and chief executive officer, said access to investment funds is a critical challenge for SMEs anywhere in the world, most especially in the Philippines.
"Typically, collateral is a barrier. So we are investing in time and effort and resources in changing the way we provide financial resources or loan resources to SMEs. Such that by understanding them better, their strengths, the challenges that they face, we are able to provide superior financing products for their needs," Gomez said.
GM Bank is raising P40 million worth of Tier 1 capital and is increasing its branches this year. It has 35 branches today and operates in five provinces. It employs 700 people and GM Bank will continue to grow this year.
Given its expansion, to optimize its operations and serve its clients better GM Bank utilizes business solutions that have been customized to its specific needs.
The bank communicates with its employees through TxtConnect, a text broadcast service that could send messages to thousands of pre-registered recipients.
TxtConnect can be used not only to employees but also to customers to announce a sale, market new products, or send info to employees and save costs on calls.
It also uses the GCash platform for mobile banking so clients can do remittance, payments, text a deposit, and text a withdrawal using their Globe phones. All GM Bank employees receive all or a part of their salaries through GCash as well.
"Challenges to our business are all related to how to manage growth. Because when you are growing at a very fast clip year on year, there are challenges on how you maintain growth. There are many products and services that we are offering today that we will not be able to offer if we did not have the benefit of making the right investments in technology. It's not just the hardware, it's not just the software, it's also the communication link, it's also the people," Gomez said.
Gomez said making the right investments in technology does not necessarily entail purchasing it.
He said the best way is to partner with a technology solutions provider with the capability, such as Globe Business.
Globe Business, the enterprise, corporate and SME client servicing unit of Globe Telecom, provides solutions especially designed for SMEs that they customize suited to their specific requirements.
Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on March 26, 2011.
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CARLOS ANI - SEEDFINANCE Corporation - http://www.seedfinance.net
Email: carlosani@seedfinance.net
Landline: +63495010127 Cellphone: +639152919580
DEVJOBS - http://www.devjobsmail.com
PHILDEVFINANCE - http://phildevfinance.posterous.com http://phildevfinance.wordpress.com
CONSULTING - http://www.carlosani.com
My Clippings - http://www.myclipps.posterous.com
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