ADFIAP and Planters Development Bank’s (PDB) SME Center for Asia held a by-invitation-only “Forum on SME Solutions for Banks” on February 4, 2011 at the PDB Headquarters in Makati City, Philippines.

The event was attended by 18 senior officers of Philippine-based ADFIAP members and guests from commercial banks. The event is the first forum of the SME Center for Asia which was formally launched last November 12, 2010 under the memorandum of agreement between ADFIAP and PDB as part of their advocacy and support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region.

The SME Center is a one-stop facility to enable entrepreneurs to gain access to information related to their businesses as well as other knowledge resources and toolkits.

The speakers of the forum included Ms. Cora Conde, Head of the ADFIAP Consulting (AC) Group, who presented AC’s “SME Lending Business Management System” that provides a holistic intervention in the setting up of a dedicated SME lending unit in banks and which covers three modules, namely: Strategic Business Planning, Core Business Operations and Business Management Action; Mr. Andrei Aquino, President of PDBSME Solutions, Planters Development Bank, who spoke on IT/SME business solutions for banks and Mr. Dinesh Fernandolulle, Managing Director & CEO of Synapsis, Sri Lanka, who presented “MBanx”, a mobile banking platform which DFCC Bank of Sri Lanka is currently using and currently installing in a Maldives bank.

For those interested on learning more about the SME solutions presented in this Forum, please contact the ADFIAP Secretariat at [email protected]