Lasco Financial gets $100m line of credit approval
Published:Tuesday | December 22, 2015 | 2:51 PM
LASCO Financial Services Limited (LASF) has obtained approval to draw down on a $100 million line of credit from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) for on-lending to micro-entrepreneurs.
It will allow the company to substantially grow its loans and receivables, which currently stands at $380 million, up from $325 million a year ago.
"LASCO Financial has advised that their application for funding under DBJ micro-financing institution's line of credit has been approved and LASF is now eligible to draw down up to $100 million for on-lending to micro-entrepreneurs," according to a release issued this week.
One third of assets
Loans account for roughly one-third of its $1 billion total assets.
The DBJ has lent more than $2 billion to micro-finance institutions since the micro-finance window was established in 2009. The bank remains "cognisant" of the role that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises contribute to the development and stimulation of the Jamaican economy and continues to provide wholesale funding to a number of micro-financing institutions for on-lending to entrepreneurs.
In its latest financials, LASCO financial revealed plans to grow its loans portfolio along with a slew of new businesses.
"The next two periods will be busy for LASCO Financial as we will be officially launching our telecoms division and rolling out our micro-loans locations islandwide, said LASCO chairman Lascelles Chin.
"Other new businesses under review could also manifest during the period. We anticipate that additional human resources will be added during the upcoming quarter to support the new businesses," he added.
Chin said, "We have so far added 10 new staff members during this financial year. Based on our projections, management estimates that the pace of revenue growth will soon surpass the expenses currently being incurred for expansion and that the resources being deployed to improve technology will shortly bring the efficiencies and returns on our investments."
LASCO Financial made $60 million in net profit during its September 2015 quarter compared to $64.5 million a year earlier.