LandBank lending policies to change – Purisima

Government plans to make key changes at the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines, refocusing its lending policies toward food infrastructure, the Finance Department said. "There will be a refocusing at LandBank to ensure we live up to its mandate of helping emancipate Filipinos from poverty and empower its people," Finance Secretary and concurrent LandBank chairman Cesar Purisima said. He said LandBank – which primarily extends loans to farmers and fishermen – has to position its lending policies in support of "the building of food infrastructure" and other similar programs. The whole banking community must not only dwell on financial intermediation, but also on the "intermediation of ideas," Purisima said, noting that economies like Japan and Singapore are all entrepreneur-based economies whose successes promote the entire nations. "How do we nurture these people? One of the first things we need to do is honor and look up to them. Second, we need to change our views about failure because success is not immediate," he said. He asked bankers to be "more welcoming of first-time entrepreneurs" whose business ideas often do not pass muster the banks' credit committee. "I am not saying you bankers become reckless. I am saying you be more entrepreneurial," Purisima added. —JE, GMANews.TV