As of February 15, 2023 in Lao Cai, on the agenda of the Financial Forum to connect banks with Women-owned Small and Medium Enterprises (WSMEs), BIDV's representatives, experts and speakers have introduced and productively discussed about policies, supporting solutions and financial access for WSMEs.

The Forum was jointly organized by the State Bank of Vietnam, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council - VCCI, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and local commercial banks and WSMEs clients.

As reported on the Forum, in the past years, a variety of solutions and supporting policies from all levels and sectors including the banking sector in general and BIDV in particular have been addressed to remove difficulties in accessing loans for SMEs. This Forum has been organized to further enhance WSME's awareness about the current credit policies and schemes, thereby promoting credit for WSME in Lao Cai province.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong – Executive Vice President, Deputy Head of BIDV’s Corporate Banking delivers her speech in the Forum

“As a pioneer bank in providing solutions to support WSMEs, the comprehensive ecosystem has been one of main strategies that BIDV has developed with modern and multi-utility products and services to optimize customer’s experience and bring the best value to customers” as Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong – Executive Vice President, Deputy Head of BIDV’s Corporate Banking said in this event.

Moreover, WSMEs has been one of top concerns that BIDV supports, especially during the recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, BIDV has implemented many preferential programs exclusively for WSMEs.

Specifically, WSME customers will be considered to apply credit packages with competitive interest rate to expand their business; participating in the Financial Inclusion Program to relief impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with a USD 5 million grant granted by the Financial Initiatives Fund for Women Entrepreneurs (We-Fi) and BIDV’s VND 3,000 billion capital. Customers not only enjoy preferential interest rates, capital withdrawal commitment fees, but also participate in free training courses on business consulting, cash flow management, human resource management, and product development or new business and information technology.

Besides, BIDV's SME Digitrans Program also sponsor free accounting and business management software to selected customers in order to promote digital transformation, transparency of business activities, and increasing ability to successfully access bank loans

Especially, BIDV has launched the SMEasy digital platform (https://smeasy.bidv.com.vn) that is designed in the model “One-Stop Shop” to provide synchronous financial and non-financial solutions for customers so as to increase internal resources, improve financial health and competitiveness for SMEs. The platform has a specially designed interface for female entrepreneurs with the message "Shining with WSMEs".

Supporting SMEs, especially WSMEs has been one of priorities given by the Government, requiring joint coordination of line agencies, organizations and commercial banks. With the motto of keeping pioneering steps and accompanying with customers for development, BIDV will always be a reliable, sustainable companion of SME customers in general and WSMEs in particular.

With endless efforts to accompany with SMEs in general and WSMEs in particular, BIDV has been highly appreciated by prestigious international organizations and honored as the best SME bank in Southeast Asia 2022 and Best SME Bank in Vietnam 5 consecutive years from 2018-2022.