BIDV was honoured to receive the awards “SME Bank of the year - Vietnam 2019” and “Corporate Client Initiative of the Year” at a ceremony held in Singapore.

This is the second consecutive year that BIDV has received such prestigious awards from Asian Banking & Finance. The bank was recognised at the 2019 Best Regional Financial Institutions Award, an event which saw the participation of hundreds of regional and global experts from 100 financial institutions of over 35 countries.

Awarding the title “SME Bank of the year -Vietnam 2019” to BIDV, the judges, who included credible financial and banking experts in the region, believed the bank to be deserving of the title due to the positive data,  commitment shown and BIDV’s action programs throughout 2018.

At the end of last year, BIDV had maintained its leading position in the SME sector in Vietnam, serving 261,000 SMEs. This number accounts for nearly 39 percent of the total number of SMEs in the country and has increased by 12 percent compared to 2017.

In 2018, the total loans BIDV extended to SMEs reached over VND250 trillion, an increase of 21 percent compared to the previous year, accounting for 16 percent of the total outstanding of SMEs in Vietnam’s banking system. BIDV also proactively allocated capital of nearly VND100 trillion with preferential interest rates through many credit packages of varying sizes and terms in order to meet the specific regions and business requirements of SMEs as well as expanding its customer base.

BIDV successfully implemented a collection service for 100 corporates (doubling that of 2017), mainly educational institutions, water supply companies, electricity and telecommunications companies. As a result, BIDV's net service revenue from SMEs achieved impressive growth of 21 percent compared to 2017 and accounted for about 33 percent of the total net service revenue of the whole bank in 2018.

In addition, the "Corporate Client Initiative of the Year" award for BIDV went to the Distributor Financing Scheme - a product tailored to the characteristics of each chain, contributing to improving cash management, reducing risks in funding and increasing benefits from funding end-to-end supply chains.

With the scheme, SME customers are provided with various forms of credit (such as overdrafts, short-term loans and guarantees); simpler conditions and documents. Moreover, with flexible security policies, SMEs can apply for unsecured loans, or secured loans using not only common collaterals such as real estate, machinery and means of transport, but also mobile goods from major brands. In addition, this customer segment can enjoy preferential pricing policy with lower interest rates, lower guarantee fees and transfer fees compared to regular customers.

In 2018, BIDV was proud to be the only bank in Vietnam to receive a number of awards for the SME banking segment, including: "Best SME Bank Vietnam 2018" by Global Banking and Finance (UK); "Best SME Bank Vietnam 2018" by Alpha Southeast Asia (Hong Kong); "SME Bank of the year" and "Corporate Client Initiative of the Year" by Asian Banking & Finance (Singapore).