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CEBU
CITY—The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) had a
P20-billion fund for rediscounting but most banks far
from Manila, the BSP headquarters city, had not tapped
into that source of expanding a bank’s loanable
resources for lack of access.
But on
Monday, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. made that money
more readily available to countryside lenders by
launching its electronic rediscounting facility in Cebu
City, the acknowledged financial center in the Visayas
and
Mindanao.
“With
the electronic rediscounting system, the real-time
delivery of credit to banks will accelerate the turnover
of money available for relending to the different
sectors of the economy especially in the countryside,”
said Tetangco.
Rediscounting is a loan resources multiplier because it
allows commercial banks to obtain funds at discounted
rates from the central bank using the eligible papers of
their borrowers as collateral, thus liquifying them so
they can lend them out again.
With the
activation of the BSP’s eRediscounting access, banks
from even the farthest from Manila with Internet
connection now have easier access to the funds, allowing
them to cut costs and, if they so desire, pass on the
benefits in the form of reduced interest to borrowers.
Those
who could take advantage of this standing credit
facility, such as banks engaged in micro- lending,
exporter assistance, agricultural finance, and even
low-cost housing can expand their loanable funds.
Since
the e-Rediscounting facility opened in December last
year, 50 banks within easy reach of the metropolis have
rediscounted a total P6.6 billion worth of receivables,
according to Tetangco. He said more than half are rural
banks.
He said
before eRediscounting, the process took about a month
but that has been reduced drastically to “more or less
10 minutes.” |
