The Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) signed a loan agreement worth $500 million on November 11 with five major financial institutions: the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ), and Maybank Securities Pte. Ltd., a member of the Maybank Investment Banking Group.

The capital will be used to meet the financial needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Vietnam and businesses owned by women. The bank will also have more potential to support social projects to improve basic infrastructure, contributing to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.

“These capital sources will help VPBank promote credit programs for SME customers, businesses owned by women, and businesses in the fields of healthcare, education, hygiene, traffic, and building social housing, giving them access to relatively low-cost capital for development,” said Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh, CEO of VPBank.

Through a partnership with the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), ADB will continue to support VPBank to help improve the financial access of female customers. In particular, based on actual operational results, $750,000 in funding will come from the bank to expand services for female customers and conduct a comprehensive financial study of SMEs owned by women in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Ramesh Subramaniam, Director General, Southeast Asia Department at ADB, banks have an important role to play in Vietnam’s sustainable and comprehensive development. The ADB’s support for VPBank will help ensure that businesses facing difficulties in accessing capital will be able to invest in their future growth and share in Vietnam’s prosperity.

In the context of global financial markets experiencing problems and unpredictable fluctuations, the successful mobilization of a large amount of capital from renowned financial institutions proves the capacity and reputation of VPBank in the international arena. This loan was the second successful deal it has signed this year, after securing a loan of $600 million in April.