This agreement marks the first tranche of an overall loan to TSKI equivalent to $4.5 million – which has been put forward by The Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium, which is managed by Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank Philippines chief country officer Enrico Cruz said Deutsche Bank has given microfinance and its attractiveness as a new way of alleviating poverty in developing countries.
The consortium’s investors, which include Deutsche Bank, AXA, Cooperative Bank, HP, Merrill Lynch, Munich Re, Standard Life, State Street, Storebrand, as well as US, UK and French development agencies and socially motivated individuals, have joined together to apply their business know-how, capital and development initiative to market-based solutions addressing the alleviation of global poverty.
Launched in November 2005, the Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium has total commercial funds of $80.6 million to help microfinance institutions in developing countries bridge the gap between demand and supply in their financial services.
The loan will be channeled through TSKI’s broad countrywide network to serve sections of the community not generally serviced by banks and financial institutions due to location and income level, thereby helping to improve employment generation and providing livelihoods to those who lack access to credit and social services.
"We create and improve simple financial structure for people who need to make improvement in their lives by accessing it," TSKI executive director Angel de Leon said. "Our success will be measured by what our clients accomplish in their lives using our products and services. We believe this investment will support us to accelerate our work to even greater point."
TSKI was given by the People’s Credit Finance Corp. (PCFC) the Ulirang Kabalikat Award or the model partner and the largest microfinance institution for 2005. It presently operates 67 branches, and services 190,000 customers.