ADB, SHB strike deal to provide trade loans in Vietnam

Illustrative image (Source: tribune.com.pk)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it signed a Revolving Credit Agreement (RCA) with the Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) on February 21.

Under the agreement, ADB's Trade Finance Program (TFP) will provide a 20 million USD direct loan to SHB to support pre-shipment and post-shipment trade transactions.

The revolving credit facility will enhance SHB's capacity in providing trade-related loans to its clients, including for pre-export finance of agricultural products, garments, and electronics for export to markets such as China, Japan, and Singapore.

'We are pleased to work with SHB to increase support to companies, including small- and medium-sized businesses. More support for trade means more economic growth and more job creation,' said Eric Sidgwick, ADB Country Director for Vietnam.

SHB became a partner bank in ADB's TFP in early 2016. In less than 12 months, TFP has supported a total of 25 SHB transactions worth over 160 million USD. The revolving credit facility is TFP's second agreement with SHB.

SHB is one of the largest commercial banks in Vietnam with total assets of more than 215 trillion VND, about 7,000 employees, and an extensive network of nearly 500 outlets in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. SHB serves nearly 4 million individual customers and businesses.

“Participating in TFP under RCA helps diversify our trade finance products and services. We strongly believe that the partnership with ADB in this programme will lead to more future opportunities of cooperation between the two institutions,” said SHB CEO Nguyen Van Le.

The TFP has been operating in Vietnam since 2009 and currently works with 11 local partner banks. To date, the programme has conducted 5,262 transactions, supporting 7.8 billion USD in trade in Vietnam - mostly for small- and medium-sized enterprises.-VNA