OREANDA-NEWS. May 23, 2017. ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU and ACOM CO., LTD. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Shigeyoshi Kinoshita, Chairman, President & CEO; hereinafter “ACOM”) have agreed to establish a joint venture for personal loan business in the Republic of the Philippines.

ITOCHU has been involving in personal loan business in Japan and overseas for a long period of time, and also has a long history of over 100 years in the Philippines with a strong network and expertise in corporate management.

ACOM is a leading company in consumer finance industry in Japan, and has credit screening expertise and loan collection know-how. By leveraging its experience and know-how, respectively, the two companies have decided to launch the business to facilitate financing for individuals in the Philippines.

The Philippines has a population of more than one hundred million, the second largest among ASEAN countries, and is expected to see strong economic growth. The new joint venture targets middle-income class to capture growing funding needs along with its economic growth.

The two companies have already developed harmonious partnership for more than 20 years by jointly operating EASY BUY Public Company Limited, a consumer finance company in Kingdom of Thailand.

ITOCHU will continue to contribute to local societies by catering consumer financing service mainly in Asia, where the expansion of middle-income class is expected, to apply growing financing needs.