Frustrating banking system

I AM a foreigner who has been lucky enough to come and visit the Philippines, and fallen in love with the natural beauty, the warmth of the people and the diversity of experience a person may enjoy living here.

Although I live and work elsewhere, I have also been fortunate enough to meet local businessmen and women whose vision and desire to build businesses have convinced me of the value of investing into their sole proprietorships.

Yes, these businesses are small but as a chartered accountant who has specialized in SME activity in the USA, Europe and Middle East, I know from personal experience that SMEs tend to employ more local people, do so more fairly in terms of salary, and invest in their own local communities than MNC’s do. In fact, SMEs can become the well-spring of employment and wealth generation all the while preserving local culture and standards.

My letter to you is to articulate my dismay at the archaic and indeed almost anti-business culture I have observed at your local banks. Time and again, I have seen how frustrated local businessmen become at the unwillingness of the banks to process import and export documentation, almost snail-like pace at processing documents, all of which results in a considerable waste of time and money.

As someone who wishes to invest into Filipino people who own businesses — as opposed to just muscling my way in and setting up my own business without regard to people or culture — I have to say that the rest of Asia is geared and focused on attracting capital for the 21st century. Here, I have found attitudes and processes that would be considered modern in the 19th century. Your neighbors are growing and eager to compete for capital – it frustrates me that the Philippine banking system, as it interacts with the government, seems more than happy to reject overseas capital and investment. I hope this will change but as my friends say here, “Ewan ko.” –Grant T. Huxham, Dubai