MANILA, Philippines - BDO Unibank Inc. and The Joyo Bank Ltd. have entered into an agreement that will enable BDO to provide assistance to Joyo Bank’s SME clients looking at investing in the Philippines, either in financial or non-financial advisory services. Joyo Bank is a 79-year-old bank and a leading financial institution in the Ibaraki Prefecture and surrounding regions. corporate, institutional and retail client base. The arrangement is an offshoot of an earlier memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 by BDO with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) essentially promoting the development and strengthening of a framework to support Japanese mid-tier companies as well as SMEs through Japanese regional banks (JRB). These JRBs, strategically situated in the various prefectures of one of the world’s largest economies, will be the conduits for their SME clients that will be requiring banking support when they decide to set up shop in the Philippines. BDO will continue to collaborate closely with JBIC to explore more tie-ups and potentially assist the Japanese SMEs to establish operations throughout the Philippines, including the special economic zones.