BANKS play a critical role in helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) gain access to financing. However, in a country whose economy is pumped by the small-scale players like the Philippines, a big number of these enterprises remain unserved.

Metrobank SME head Godofredo V. Cruz revealed that only 19.1 percent of of SMEs in the country have borrowed from the banks.

“As of 2012, there are 944,897 business enterprises in the Philippines. This could have doubled now and MSMEs (including micro) represent 99.6 percent of these enterprises or equivalent to 940,886 MSMEs,” Cruz said in his presentation during the recent Cebu Entrepreneurship and Investment Summit held on Saturday at SM City Cebu.

According to the official, there are several reasons why there remains to be unbanked SMEs. Surprisingly, most of these are a matter of perception—thinking that banks are for the big players only.

First, Cruz said most SMEs are intimated by banks, thinking that these only serve the big businesses and those requiring huge loan amounts.