On 6 December 2019 in Hanoi, BIDV and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund (SMEDF) held a signing ceremony of master agreement on indirect lending, creating favorable conditions for businesses in Vietnam to access capital at low cost. Remarkably, BIDV is the first bank to be identified by SMEDF to implement this program.

In particular, financing from SMEDF will allow SMEs in Vietnam to access low-cost loans at a fixed interest rate of only 6% p.a. throughout the tenor of up to 7 years.

SMEDF and BIDV signed the master agreement

The SMEDF’s preferential loan is designed for innovative start-ups and SMEs in industrial clusters and value chains. This major financial support from the Government is an opportunity for SMEs to realize business ideas and expand business activities. With a more preferential interest rate, the cooperation between BIDV and SMEDF promises efficiency and strong development momentum for businesses in general and SMEs in particular, toward the target of having 1 million efficient private businesses as set by the Government.

The financing from SMEDF since 2016 was the first long-term loan for Vietnamese SMEs at a relatively low fixed interest throughout the tenor. BIDV was the first bank to be selected by the SMEDF to implement this financing program, also the best performer in disbursing the capital of the Fund, covering 55% of the Fund's disbursed capital. Projects disbursed by BIDV are of good credit quality, which have been recognized by the SMEs community and created momentum for SMEs in recent years.

By Q3/2019, BIDV has served more than 285,000 SMEs customers, with VND285,000 billion of outstanding loans covering 40% of the bank’s total outstanding loans. The bank’s effort to support SMEs has been recognized and awarded by international organizations. In 2019, BIDV was honored to receive “Best SME Deal” Award by The Asian Development Bank (ADB); “SME Bank of the year - Vietnam 2019” and “Corporate Client Initiative of the Year” Award by Asian Banking & Finance for the 2nd consecutive year; “Best SME Bank of Vietnam” Award by ASEA; Top 10 Sustainable Business by The Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development; Top 10 Trust & Use of Vietnam; etc.