At the signing ceremony between VPBank and SMBC (Photo: VNA) With this deal, SMBC, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc(SMFG), has officially become a foreign strategic investor of the Vietnamesebank.
The investment from SMBC will help VPBank raise 35.9 trillion VND(approximately 1.5 billion USD) of Tier 1 capital (equal to 30,160 VND pershare), increasing its equity to approximately 140 trillion VND from 103.5trillion VND.
Following the investment, VPBank will become Vietnam’s second largest bank interms of equity, which allows it to serve a wide range of customer needs invarious segments, including retail banking, corporate banking and SMEs. Therobust capital stance will also back VPBank in serving large-scale enterprises,particularly the FDI and multi-national companies that have been or will beinvesting in Vietnam.
The new investment also proves a strong and trusted collaboration between SMBCand VPBank, since the two parties entered into a Business Partnership Agreementin May 2022. Previously, in 2021, SMBC Consumer Finance Co Ltd – a subsidiaryof SMFG – also acquired 49% equity stake in FE Credit, a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of VPBank.
SMBC, through this investment, will contribute towards VPBank’sgrowth by leveraging its know-how and business expertise accumulated in otherAsian markets. SMBC is thus expected to help accelerate the digitaltransformation at VPBank, in order to deliver customer-centric banking productsand services and superior customer experience.
Furthermore, thanks to the great reputation of a large financial institutionlike SMBC, the strategic deal is anticipated to attract and encourage potentialFDI companies among the 200,000 corporate clients of SMBC to come and expandtheir investment in Vietnam. These potential enterprises, once entering Vietnamsuccessfully, will also likely to become clients of VPBank.
For SMBC itself, through the rapport built with a local bank like VPBank, thegroup will be able to strengthen its foothold in the country and exploitopportunity to serve local investment projects, particularly those in the fieldof infrastructure construction and green and sustainable growth that the grouphas been paying attention to in recent years.
As one of the earliest-established joint-stock commercial banks in Vietnam,VPBank has achieved sustainable development throughout its 30-year history.VPBank is now the leading commercial bank in Vietnam in terms of efficiency andprofitability, with strong presence in retail and SME segments. It is also thedigital pioneer implementing end-to-end digitisation to deliver distinctivecustomer value propositions.
As at December 31, 2022, VPBank’s total assets amounted to approximately 27billion USD, with a network of 251 branches national wide. VPBank is also amongthe best-capitalised banks with CAR at approximately 15% well beyond theregulatory requirement, which has strengthened its balance sheet and providesheadroom for future growth.
SMBC is one of the largest commercial banks in Japan. With offices in 39countries and regions including the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asiaand Oceania, SMBC has an extensive global network and growing internationalpresence./.
VNA
