Home Credit Vietnam has received a Golden Dragon Award 2022, marking the eighth year in succession it has won the distinguished award. The ceremony for the Golden Dragon Awards 2022 took place in Ho Chi Minh City on April 8.

The Golden Dragon Awards are a prestigious event organized by Vietnam Economic Times for the last 21 years to honor the production and business achievements of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Vietnam. This year’s Awards recognized Home Credit’s efforts to serve customers and its contribution to the country’s sustainable development and financial inclusion amid the uncertainty posed by Covid-19.

Mr. Khang Pham, Home Credit Vietnam’s Chief Finance Officer, said the award recognizes Home Credit’s contributions to sustainable development and being a partner of choice for customers’ daily financial needs. “This is how we have won it for eight years in a row,” he added. “This achievement further solidifies my belief in our journey to empower our employees and help more Vietnamese people live the life they want, now.”

Joining Vietnam in 2008, Home Credit was one of the first foreign enterprises to provide consumer finance products in the country. The company pioneered offering zero interest loans with instalment payments - the “original BNPL” - to help consumers purchase motorbikes and electronic home appliances. With more than 6,000 employees in the country’s 63 cities and provinces, Home Credit now serves over 13 million customers in Vietnam.

Responsible finance and financial inclusion are among Home Credit’s top priorities. The company has been pushing forward to ensure transparency, compliance, and customer care at the highest level: offering customers the right products based on their needs and financial capacity, ensuring that they clearly understand the essential information related to the service, and helping them with a sustainable repayment plan.

Home Credit has maintained its bad debt ratio at under 3 per cent, as recommended by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), keeping customers away from bad debts while performing its mission of financial inclusion.

It is also the first consumer finance company to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards into its operations. At the end of 2021, the Home Credit Group published its first report on the programs and measures it has implemented to support customers and the community, and shared its vision for providing sustainable and responsible financial products and services. An ESG report is expected to be published annually.

Digital transformation is also one of the main focuses of Home Credit. The company was the first consumer finance company in Vietnam to build an application to help customers conveniently register and make payments completely online. Virtual credit cards were also quickly launched last year during the peak of Covid-19.

Nearly 70 per cent of Vietnam’s population are unbanked or unable to access finance from traditional banks. Consumer finance firms make it possible for a large proportion of people who cannot prove their earnings to access the loans they need.

Vietnam’s consumer finance market still has strong potential for growth. According to the SBV, the average growth of consumer loans from 2010-2020 was 33.7 per cent, while general credit growth was only half that, at 17.3 per cent. A 2021 speech from the SBV Governor affirmed that the establishment and operation of consumer finance companies is in line with the country’s needs, promoting consumption and facilitating customers who are underbanked to easily access financial services. Additionally, consumer finance companies’ lending activities contribute to the expansion of credit access for customers in remote and mountainous areas.