Hanoi, Vietnam, March 20, 2015
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, signed a project services agreement with An Binh Joint Stock Commercial Bank (ABBANK) to help the bank enhance its capacity in financing smaller businesses.
Smaller businesses provide the majority of jobs in Vietnam, but they face great difficulties in obtaining loans from banks. ABBANK aims to develop more customized products and services for small and medium enterprises, which account for about 95 percent of its corporate clients.
In the next 18 months, IFC will be advising ABBANK on improving its competitiveness in small-and-medium-enterprise banking by helping the bank define the types of clients it should target and developing policies and tools to enhance sales and services for these customers.
“This strategic project will improve our capacity in SME banking and increase the overall quality of our services,” said Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai, Deputy General Manager at ABBANK. “This project will help us move closer to our goal of becoming a leading retail bank in Vietnam.”
IFC has extensive experience in providing investment and advisory services to financial intermediaries in emerging markets to help them reach out to small and medium enterprises effectively. IFC supports banks to improve their strategy, market segmentation, product development, risk management, and information technology management. In fiscal year 2014, IFC’s Global SME Banking Advisory Services Program comprised 95 projects across 52 countries with a total portfolio value of $96 million.
“We are confident that our support will help the bank build its position as an important lender to small and medium enterprises, which need help with accessing financing to expand their businesses and create more jobs for the people of Vietnam,” said Nguyen Hanh Nam, IFC’s Financial Institutions Group Leader for Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Thailand.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in about 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. In FY14, we provided more than $22 billion in financing to improve lives in developing countries and tackle the most urgent challenges of development. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
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