Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) today inked a syndicated loan arrangement worth $500 million with five prominent financial institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Japan International Cooperation Agency, ANZ Bank, and Maybank Securities Pte. Ltd. – a member of Maybank Investment Banking Group.

The loan proceeds will then be utilised by the bank to finance small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and businesses led by women in the country.

In addition, VPBank will be able to extend its credit facility to social projects dedicated to the improvement of fundamental infrastructure and, ultimately Vietnam’s socioeconomic development.

VPBank is currently the very first bank in the country to successfully build its own Social Finance Framework aligned with internationally recognised Social Bond Principles and Social Loan Principles. It has been reviewed and evaluated by Morningstar Sustainalytics, a global leader in environmental and social governance research.

This will allow the bank to design and promote appropriate products and services that meet the bank’s long-term sustainable growth in the future.

“These funds will help VPBank promote our lending programmes for SMEs, women-run SMEs and other companies in the lines of healthcare, education, sanitation, transport, and social housing construction, by giving them access to relatively low-cost capital,” said VPBank CEO Nguyen Duc Vinh.

Apart from the proceeds, through a partnership with the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), ADB will further support VPBank to help improve access to finance for underserved female borrowers in the country.

In particular, a $750,000 performance-based grant will be funded by We-Fi for the bank to expand services to female borrowers and to undertake a first-of-its-kind randomised control trial study in Vietnam on financial inclusion for women-run SMEs.

“Banks have a vital role in mapping an inclusive and sustainable development path for Vietnam. ADB’s support for VPBank will help to ensure that businesses who had struggled to obtain finance will be able to invest in their future growth and share in the country’s prosperity,” noted ADB director general for Southeast Asia Ramesh Subramaniam.

While the global financial market remains volatile with widespread uncertainties, having a fruitfully secured substantial syndicated loan from foreign lenders is a testament to VPBank’s creditability and capacity in the international arena.

VPBank constantly improving its service quality

Thanks to its initiative to diversify financing sources, VPBank has consolidated its lending capacity to meet customers' increasing credit needs for production, distribution, construction and development.

This international financing source has come following the disbursement of the $600 million syndicated loan that VPBank received back in April from well-known Asian financial institutions, including SMBC, Maybank, Cathay United Bank, CTBC Bank and State Bank of India.

In the first nine months through September, VPBank’s credit growth was reported at 15.45 per cent, higher than the average credit growth across the system of 10.96 per cent.

The bank’s consolidated profit before tax advanced positively, reaching $860.8 million, up 69 per cent on-year. The main driver of the bank’s profit came from its well-established retail segment – with the lending portfolio consisting of retail, SME and FE Credit clients.

The segment recorded a year-to-date growth of approximately 20 per cent, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of VPBank’s total outstanding credit and helping secure the bank’s stance among the top in retail banking in the country.