To make credit more accessible to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) plans to establish satellite SME Desks around the country. The Bank is going to open SME Desks for every region so that there will be SME account officers to concentrate on their loans. DBP’s loan portfolio grew by 20% to P143.77 billion in the first quarter from P119.39 billion last year. DBP is also eyeing the automation of credit evaluation for SMEs to ensure objectivity and to speed up the loan application process. In the current process, loan officers use only a computerized spreadsheet to store and assess date on SMEs. With the automation, loan officers simply need to fill out an online form and the system will automatically provide a credit score for the entity.