Lucena City as a Financial Hub: A Basis for Investment Promition in Calabarzon

Authors

  • Romerico Alvarez

Keywords:

investment promotion, MSMEs, financial hub

Abstract

The study aims to propose an Investment Promotion Program for Lucena City as the financial hub in the Calabarzon region through the identification of the banking profile, contributory and deterrent factors affecting the investment decision to locate their banking operations. A validated self-made questionnaire is used to collect the bank profile from all 64 bank managers Lucena City, from which only 32 responded; and a research interview questionnaire was used to determine the insights from 10 members of the Lucena and Gumaca bankers association and of the Quezon Chamber of Commerce who accepted the invitation for this study. Frequency and percentage analysis were used to describe the profile of respondents and the top factors determining and deterring the decision to invest in Lucena City. The proponent of this study has provided a 5-program Investment Decision Plan to develop Lucena City as CALABARZON’s banking hub based on the banking profile data and insights from Quezon province’s banking and entrepreneurial experts (Table 4.4). The first program provides tax incentives to manufacturing companies which will create more jobs and income for the residents of Lucena City. The second program will develop the needed public and IT-infrastructures sufficient to serve the aggregate and growing demands for banking services. The third program will enable the delivery of more basic services to the residents of Lucena City to improve the quality and quantity of the workforce in the long run and sustain the increased income of the populace. The fourth program will provide knowledge and awareness to the various products and services of the banks translating to a higher demand for financial activities by providing students and residents in general with related seminars and training. The last proposed program aims to help the underserved MSMEs to grow their business by improving their access to financial products and services through lowered interest rates and lowering the management risks they encounter. The plan aims to minimize the effects of deterrent factors and even build on the contributory factors affecting the decision to establish banking operations in Lucena City. Overall, the introduction of more sophisticated products and services, growth of MSMEs, address the inadequacy of infrastructures, creation of more jobs, and sustained growth in the income level of the populace together with an increased role of the government in providing basic services and knowledge-generating programs are found to be critical for Lucena City to be the premier financial hub of its region.

Published

2019-12-18