BSP Governor and Monetary Board Chairman Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. and Monetary Board Member Juan D. De Zuñiga Jr. present the “Gold Hall of Fame Award” for the Credit Surety Fund category to LANDBANK President and CEO Alex V. Buenaventura and Executive Vice President for Agricultural and Development Lending Edward John T. Reyes at the 14th Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch for BSP Stakeholders.

For its outstanding contribution to the Credit Surety Fund (CSF) Program led by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, LANDBANK was conferred with the “Gold Hall of Fame” award in the 14th Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch for BSP Stakeholders held recently at the BSP Complex in Manila.

The Gold Hall of Fame is given to awardees that have won in the same category for three consecutive years. LANDBANK has been consecutively recognized as an “Outstanding Lending Bank” under the CSF category since 2013.

“We are grateful for this recognition, which inspires us all the more to strengthen our support for the Credit Surety Fund program. We strongly share the program’s objective of making bank credit more accessible to MSMEs, who are our important partners for progress and development,” said LANDBANK President and CEO Alex V. Buenaventura.

Initiated by BSP in 2008, the Credit Surety Fund is a credit enhancement scheme that aims to improve the bankability and credit worthiness of microenterprises and SMEs including cooperatives, which are short of collaterals and often face difficulty in obtaining loans from banks due to lack of collaterals, credit knowledge, and credit records. The fund is created by pooling cash contributions from participating cooperatives, local government units and other partner institutions.

As of December 2016, LANDBANK has approved more than P3 billion in loans under the program, of which P1.8 billion was released to 35,373 CSF beneficiaries all over the country. Meanwhile, of the Bank’s approved contributions at P116.9 million, P90.3 million was released to 37 CSFs nationwide as of end-2016.

LANDBANK also received awards for “Best CSF Lending Bank” and “Outstanding CSF Program Partner”.  

Themed “Transforming Shared Visions into Dynamic Partnership”, the awards ceremony is a “tribute to institutions that have continuously supported the BSP’s statistical initiatives, information requirements, advocacy programs and the effective delivery of its function”.