IFC, Vietnam’s HDBank to boost finance for smaller firms, supply chains

The World Bank’s investment arm IFC is joining forces with HDBank to help Vietnamese small and medium businesses get access to funding to better take part in global supply chains, and expand into new markets.

The newly-launched collaboration is expected to help the leading Vietnamese private retail bank build a supply chain financing (SCF) portfolio of $1 billion by 2025, IFC said Thursday.

IFC and HDBank signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for this move in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, U.S. time, with visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo witnessing.

"Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of Vietnam's economy and are essential to the country's ambition to become a regional manufacturing hub," said Stephanie von Friedeburg, IFC's Senior Vice President, Operations.

"Our support to local financial institutions like HDBank will help SMEs in Vietnam link into global supply chains and access opportunities to grow and create jobs," she added.

HDBank CEO Pham Quoc Thanh said, "Supply chain financing that links buyers, suppliers, and financial institutions will efficiently support the trade cycles. IFC's timely support will enable local businesses to leverage emerging trade opportunities and improve their linkages to formal supply chains, contributing to Vietnam's economic growth.

"It will further help HDBank realize its vision to be among the top banks in the country with a core focus on SME and retail banking, while emphasizing value chain financing and growing its anchor client base. Also, agriculture chain is an important target industry for us, especially high-tech and green agriculture," he said.

Via the collaboration, IFC will help HDBank grow its SCF portfolio, currently active in construction materials, agribusinesses, fast moving consumer goods as well as supporting industries and downstream petroleum distribution.

Specifically, the World Bank’s investment arm will assist the Vietnamese bank to design an SCF strategy for the agri sector, broaden its SCF products – especially supplier and distributor financing – and bring on board anchor firms along with their suppliers and distributors, among others, IFC said.

IFC in April provided HDBank with a $40 million trade finance line under its Global Trade Finance Program, which will improve the lender's capacity to cover payment risk in granting trade financing to local companies, mostly SMEs.

HDBank is the newest Vietnamese bank to join the program since its launch in Vietnam in 2007, which has helped the Vietnamese participating banks issue more than 1,700 guarantees valued at over $8 million to support local exporters and importers, especially during the Covid-19 period to ease the liquidity constraints for businesses and protect thousands of jobs.

In 2021, IFC committed a $70 million five-year senior loan to HDBank to support renewable energy development. The firm and the two investment funds managed by IFC Asset Management Company, which are IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund and IFC Emerging Asia Fund, also subscribed $95 million to a five-year convertible bond issued by the bank to support increased lending to micro, small, and medium enterprises.

This financing for the Vietnamese lender totals $165 million.