SME's in the Philippines are more than 90% of the country's business. If SME's suffer, the country will suffer.

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), the longest operating bank in the philippines since 1872, with more than 740 offices in over 55 countries worldwide, previously engaged in three busines alone - credit cards, personal loans and mortgages. But today, SCB launched its SME banking business which consists of deposit accounts; cash managements, accounts management and trade services; and investment and financing products. 

Amidst the expected economic slowdown the bank will serve as the umbrella of consumer banking because of its role in the economy. It aims to expand its small and medium enterprise business as many SME's owners are already its wealth management clients.

The flagship product of SME banking is the Business Saver, a peso checking account that promises to deliver 5x the interest rates that other banks offer. The bank will also remain positive on retail trade and the consruction industry that it estimates to have grown around 28% and 19% respectively.

Meanwhile, SCB Philippines reported 2007 a good year in terms of revenue and was the best in our 135-year  history in the Philippines. The bank's revenue totalled 5.5 billion last year, up 12.6% from 2006 and had a working profit of 1.78 billion for 2007.

The SCB  wholesale banking grew 25-30% last year, while the consumer banking in which SME operates, coming from a relatively small base, doubled in size.

In response to SCB needs of financial protection against fraud and bad debts, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has supported the creation of a centralized credit bureau - a provider of informations on credit-worthiness and credit history of specific consumers and businesses that intend to borrow monies to lending institutions.