Tisa Bank to enter market soon

Papua New Guinea will soon welcome a new commercial bank.

Tisa Community Finance, a business arm of the Teachers Savings and Loan Society is expected to make the announcement in coming weeks.     

Chief Executive Officer Sunil Kumar Pokharel confirmed with NBC Online, the bank will be open for business once banking license is released by Bank of PNG.  

“Tisa Community Finance [TSI] on verge of becoming a commercial bank, announcement may be in a month time.”   

The Bank of Tisa Community Finance will be owned by contributing members of the Teachers Savings and Loan Society.  

And in Port Moresby today [Friday], TSI and Credit Guarantee Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding,

Mr Pokharel highlighted the importance of a “safety net” to encourage bank lending to small SMEs. 

“This is kind of safety net for the lender [or] financial institution, I am optimistic this will have significant impact in growing our SMEs [small medium enterprises] portfolios.”

Credit Guarantee Corporation is a vehicle established by the national government in 2022, to provide equity security for eligible PNG small medium enterprises wanting to access credit from financial institutions.     

Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sikakau said, “we look forward to this partnership, already 12 other financial institutions partner with CGC, TCF brings number to 13 [and] through this partnership, we hope to help our SMEs grow and contribute to economy of PNG.”