14 new financing firms listed by SEC in 1st 10 months

The Securities and Exchange Commission said there were 14 new corporations that were issued licenses to operate as a financing firm in the third quarter of the year.

This brings to 208 the number of licensed pre-need firms in the country as of Oct. 1 this year.

Leading the pack of new financing companies were Toyota Financial Services Philippines Corp. which was capitalized at P1 billion.

Owing to the critical role of financing in its sales, Toyota decided to put up a separate company that will centralize all financing requirements of its dealers nationwide.

Other entities that were given the green light to operate as a financing company include People’s Credit Network Finance Co. Inc., Optimum Care Finance Corp., Borough Financing Corp., Cagayan Valley A + Credit Corp., Quezon A + Credit Corp., R.I. Financing Inc., ALGS Financing & Investment Corp., JRCG Financing Corp., Westwing Finance & Investment Corp., RGC Finance Corp., Sheik Juan Finance Corp., LGF Finance Co. Inc., and MCC Money Shop.

Meanwhile, three financing firms – Philippine Commercial Capital Corp., Astra Finance Corp., and Financial Factors-Baguio Branch had surrendered their licenses to the SEC and closed shop.

The SEC reported that of the total 208 financing companies, only 166 submitted their quarterly reports for the second quarter of the year.

A review of the financial statements filed with the SEC showed that 22 financing firms had a capital deficiency. They were Advent Capital & Finance Corp., ASB Finance Corp., Astra Finance Inc., Chailease Finance & Investments Corp., Conglomerate Securities & Financing Corp., Fil-Estate Finance Corp., Hexagon Financing Corp., IBA Finance Corp., ICC Leasing & Finance Corp., Infinite Investment & Finance Corp., Isla Finance Corp., Jardine Pacific Finance, Johnston Finance, Magdiwang Finance & Investments, Associates Finance, Libra Finance & Investments, Monarch Finance Corp., Hunter Finance, East Oceanic Leasing & Finance Corp., Macondary Finance Corp., Mercator Finance Corp., and Pilipinas Automotive Credit Corp.

The prevailing economic crisis has affected the profitability of financing companies during the first half of the year as the industry incurred a net loss of P1.2 billion compared with a net income of P296.45 million last year.

SEC attributed the drastic change to the P1.49-billion net loss incurred by Advent Capital & Finance Corp.

Gross revenues from discount fees, leasing income, interest income, service charge/fees and other income amounted to P2.78 billion or 99.31 of the total gross income of the industry.

Total expenses grew 52.78 percent to P4 billion from the year ago level of P2.62 billion.

In terms of profitability, PCI Leasing & Finance Corp. was the biggest with a net income of P106.5 million followed by BPI Leasing and Orix Metro Leasing & Finance. Others that made it to the top 10 companies in terms of profits were LBP Leasing Corp., FG Financial Co. Inc., People’s Credit, First Malayan Leasing & Finance, BOT Lease & Finance Phils., Diamond Finance, and World Partners Finance.