Awards bestowed on BAC A BANK

Nguyen The Ky (fourth from right), Party Central Committee member and general director of the Voice of Vietnam, assigned by the state president, presented the Third-class Labour Medal to BAC A BANK

Vietnamese lending staple BAC A BANK last week celebrated its 25th anniversary, receiving the Third-class Labour Medal from the state president as well as many other high-profile certificates of merit conferred by the governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the People’s Committee of the central province’s Nghe An.

At the ceremony, the major achievements made by individuals of BAC A BANK and those of the whole group itself were highlighted as big contributions to the country’s banking system. A certificate of merit was presented to the lender, and another six similar certificates was also conferred to the bank’s individuals and units for their excellent contributions to Vietnam’s banking activities.

Nghe An People’s Committee also presented a role-model flag to BAC A BANK and conferred certificates of merit to five units and individuals for their great contributions to the province’s socio-economic development in particular.

A committee representative stated at the ceremony, “We are happy that Nghe An has been the cradle of the bank. BAC A BANK was the sole commercial joint stock bank established in Nghe An in the 1990s. After 25 years of operation, and with its unceasing efforts, the bank has become one of the most prestigious banks in Vietnam, and it has made great contributions to the development of the province.”

Nguyen Thi Thu Thu, director of the SBV’s Nghe An Branch, praised BAC A BANK’s performance and achievements.

“During its 25 years of development, the bank has been enjoying very positive growth, with its prestige and brand name increasingly strengthened. This has helped the bank attract more and more customers,” Thu said. “BAC A BANK has always been making great efforts in pursuing the group’s unique business strategy of ensuring sustainable development. We highly appreciate the bank for its great obedience to the law and guidelines from the SBV. The bank has made important contributions to the general activities of the country’s banking sector, and in particular to the development of localities where the bank is operating.”

Hoang Viet Duong (right), Vice Chairman of Nghe An People’s Council, conferred the honours from the chairman of Nghe An People’s Committee to the bank

Pushing forward sustainably

After a quarter of a century of development, the bank’s financial-banking products have been further diversified with new utilities, along with many assorted promotional programmes launched on a frequent basis, meeting the demands of varying customer segments.

BAC A BANK is also taking the lead in providing investment consultancy and credit for enterprises with projects applying high technologies in agricultural and rural development. The aim is to create businesses with a focus on sustainable development, with activities focused on social security such as processing of safe foodstuffs, and producing medicinal herbs, vegetables, and fruit, as well as developing healthcare and educational services.

These sectors can create values that are environmentally friendly, as well as help BAC A BANK reinforce its strong message of fostering a sustainable future.

Many large projects enjoying the bank’s investment consultancy are being effectively implemented, making strong contributions to socio-economic development of localities home to the projects.

They include a $1.2 billion high-tech concentrated dairy and fresh milk production project in Nghe An’s Nghia Dan district; a project to produce clean medicinal herbs and natural clean flavouring; a venture to process wood and develop sustainable forests; the planting and exporting of greenhouse flowers and vegetables; and another project revolving around high-quality healthcare, as well as the TH School system.

In addition, BAC A BANK has been providing investment consultancy for many overseas projects, such as a large high-tech concentrated dairy and fresh milk production project in Russia, an initiative to produce Total Happiness Naturals herbal drinks in the US, and many other ventures in organic and clean foods.

The 25th anniversary celebrations does not mark the first time that BAC A BANK has received certificates of merit from the government, Nghe An authorities, and other organisations.

Over the years, the lender has garnered many high-profile awards such as “Enterprise with excellent trade and service” award by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and being named as one of the “Top 10 Vietnamese leading brand names”, “Top 500 Vietnamese largest private enterprises”, “Top 500 fastest growing enterprises in Vietnam”, “Top 200 Vietnamese Golden Stars”, and “Top 10 businesses for labourers”. The bank also won “Best Corporate Advisory Board of Vietnam” for three consecutive years from 2015, and “Outstanding bank for hi-tech agriculture development 2018”, along with many more high-profile accolades.

Thai Huong, general director of BAC A BANK, has been named twice in Forbes Magazine’s list of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia. Besides that, she was named “Most Inspirational CEO of the Year” in both 2017 and 2018, and received the Golden Stevie prize in the International Business Awards.

Aligning internationally

Over many years, the bank’s position and prestige have continued to improve, along with its robust financial capacity, becoming one of Vietnam’s biggest commercial joint stock banks.

BAC A BANK has consistently earned a high rank in the banking sector, and it has provided great volumes of capital for investors and enterprises to conduct business, as well as to implement community-oriented activities, including providing assistance to localities’ in their efforts to reduce poverty.

“With our clear-cut goals and strength over the past 25 years, BAC A BANK has always been consistent in its professional and humane business strategy, which is not to focus on maximising profits but to harmonise all benefits of all stakeholders for the sake of sustainable development,” Thai Huong said.

The bank has also created sound business plans which are suitable to each period of time in order to grasp all opportunities and weather all difficulties in order to grow from strength to strength.

BAC A BANK is now showing its robust determination to achieve bigger aims with sustainable development characterised by the application of high technology in its activities in line with international standards, contributing to the country’s socio-economic development.

The group aims to continue improving its competitiveness and financial and technological capacity to become a more digital-based and modern bank, providing new services for customers and providing investment consultancy for more enterprises in the sectors of agriculture, education, healthcare, and social services.

BAC A BANK was established in September 1994 with initial charter capital volume of VND20 billion ($870,000), and with a development strategy focused on sustainable goals which have led the bank to impressive growth. After 25 years of operation, its charter capital has soared to VND5.5 trillion ($239 million). The bank’s total asset value has skyrocketed from nearly VND57 billion ($2.48 million) in 1995 to more than VND102.1 trillion ($4.4 billion) by June this year. BAC A BANK reaped after-tax profit in 2018 of a record VND677.1 billion ($29.4 million), and the return on equity ratio and return on asset ratio reaching the highest, at 10.07 and 0.72 per cent, respectively.

So far, the bank’s network has covered 28 provinces and cities nationwide, with 129 transaction spots.