Shinhan Vietnam Finance secures $40 mln loan to advance consumer lending

Shinhan Vietnam Finance, a wholly foreign-owned consumer finance company, has secured a $40 million loan from Singapore branches of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Woori Bank.

Shinhan Vietnam Finance Company Limited (Shinhan Finance), a subsidiary of South Korea’s Shinhan Card, said in a Tuesday statement that it has agreed on a two-year syndicated offshore loan facility.

The move would supplement its working capital and expand its capacity to meet financial needs of Vietnamese consumers, the consumer lender said.

SMBC Singapore Branch acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner for the loan agreement and acted as the facility agent for the syndicated loan.

Vietnam’s consumer finance market is expected to grow well in 2024 alongside recovery of the domestic economy, Shinhan Finance said.

The company recorded a post-tax loss of VND462.8 billion ($18.2 million) in 2023, versus a post-tax profit of VND312.2 billion in 2022, according to the firm's financial report.

Le Xuan Dong, managing director of Market Research & Consulting Services at FiinGroup JSC, said the consumer finance market has good growth potential because Vietnam's consumer loan debt accounts for only 27.17% of GDP in 2022, very low compared to the average rate of 60-70% in other Asian countries like China, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.

However, the country lacks regulations and mechanisms to control lending interest rate ceilings and accompanying fees for informal forms of consumer finance such as pawnshop chains, peer-to-peer and payday loan companies, fintech companies and lending apps, he noted.

Dao Minh Tu, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said credit growth in the Vietnamese banking system accelerated in the final days of Q1/2024 to reach 1.34% on March 29 from end-2023. He said SBV will cooperate with the Ministry of Public Security to tap the national database for facilitating the granting of consumer loans without collateral.