IFC lends $40 mln to Vietnam lender SHB, expects new $50 mln

World Bank investment arm IFC signed a $40 million loan for Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) on Tuesday to help the lender expand financial access for small and medium enterprises, while seeking a $50 million financing package for the same purpose.

Under the deal, IFC provides the $40 million loan, the first phase of an overall planned $120 million financing package, to help the private bank provide more support for domestic enterprises and boost their participation in the global supply chain.

IFC said it is working with international lenders to mobilize a $50 million financing package to further improve SHB's capacity in SME lending.

A $75 million trade guarantee line under the IFC's Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP) is expected to come to SHB in the coming months. IFC will also advise SHB to improve its risk management and environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards.

"It's vital that smaller businesses and especially those owned by women, are supported and able to access the funding they need to grow and expand their businesses," said Thomas Jacobs, IFC country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

"Our new partnership with SHB will help the bank strengthen its core business of serving smaller enterprises and allow those businesses to benefit from financing to link in with global supply chains, a move that will ultimately contribute to economic growth and job creation in Vietnam,” he said.

More than one-third of the new funding will be exclusively targeted at women-owned SMEs, with support from the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF) and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) through a performance-based incentive, which encourages financial institutions to provide financing to women-owned small businesses.

IFC's investment is expected to help SHB more than double the number of SME loans as well as the outstanding loan volume for women-owned businesses by 2025. While SMEs are critical to Vietnam's economy, generating 40% of its GDP and 50% of jobs, they are having difficulty accessing finance, with about 62% of total SME financing needs unmet. An IFC study estimates Vietnam's financing gap for SMEs is around $21.7 billion.

"We believe that with timely support policies and solutions, and capital flows like this package from IFC, SMEs will be able to unlock their potential, expanding production and pursuing sustainable development," said Ngo Thu Ha, CEO of the Hanoi-headquartered bank.

Charlotte Keenan, global director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, said: “We look forward to supporting SHB as it expands lending to women-owned businesses in Vietnam."

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women is an ongoing initiative to foster economic growth by providing women entrepreneurs around the world with a business and management education and access to capital. The initiative has reached over 200,000 women from over 150 countries.

Notably, about one-fifth of the new IFC loan for SHB will be on-lent to SMEs participating in supply chains.

SHB is one of the top private commercial banks in Vietnam. The bank claims it is serving more than five million individual and corporate customers and connecting to 500 correspondent banks across continents.

The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) is a collaborative partnership among the 14 governments that have made financial contributions, six multilateral development banks that serve as implementing partners, and other public and private stakeholders.