New strategic partners soon on board at HDBank for more inclusive growth

HDBank's recent 2021 annual shareholders meeting

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, deputy chairwoman of Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank, HSX: HDB) gave the message at the bank's recent general annual shareholders’ meeting (AGM) on April 23 where the shareholders paid special heeds to hot issues like bancassurance, credit growth, dividends, as well as ways to further enhance benefits for investors and shareholders and accelerate the bank’s development in the forthcoming period.

Notably, aside from local shareholders, the bank also received opinions from shareholders representing foreign equity funds who are the bank’s institutional investors like Affinity and DEG having invested in HDBank’s convertible bonds and PYN in the HDB ticker.

In her closing remark at the AGM, the deputy chairwoman said that HDBank’s Board of Management welcomed all input from the bank’s shareholders, and regarding issues that did not get responses at the AGM, the shareholder relationship division will continue communicating with the shareholders in the time to come.

According to HDBank’s leadership, the bank has been undergoing its most prosperous stage of its more than 30-year development journey with important business metrics like total asset value, equity value, and basic financial targets growing about 10-fold, and return-on-equity (ROE) rising over 20 per cent.

HDBank has also carved out a spot among the top players in Vietnam’s banking sector and was one of the 30 best stocks (VN30) in Vietnam’s stock exchange.

“HDBank came out of the pandemic with a strong will, attesting to its capacity as a powerful and flexible bank and having achieved our best-ever profit performance. Closing the 2020 fiscal year, HDBank has never had such a solid financial status as it currently does,” said Thao.

She added, HDBank has converged all necessary conditions to realise its vision and reach the great targets set in its new 5-year strategy for 2021-2025, including making it among the top performers in the market; bringing happiness and prosperity to customers, shareholders, and employees, with active contributions to the country’s socioeconomic development.

In 2020, the Board of Management performed their duties to the shareholders exceptionally, providing dividend reaching 65 per cent of the bank’s charter capital while simultaneously receiving new investments in the form of convertible bonds, while supplementing its tier-2 equity by an additional $160 million, embracing its M&A strategy, and bolstering financial strength in 2021.

Also last year, income from services rose by a half, compared to 2019. Stepping into 2021, income from services remains huge with the return of the bancassurance segment, which is expected to generate more than VND1 trillion ($43.5 million) in premium revenue.

In addition, HDBank plans to issue one million credit cards along with digital transformation and the deployment of new financial products and services, while simultaneously effectively tapping into its ecosystem of several dozen million customers that the bank’s strategic partners are developing.

HDBank’s 2021 development plan is set with ambitious targets paired with diverse innovation programmes on human resources, digital transformation, establishing development alliances, and more.

“We will be continually connecting with strategic partners, major businesses, foreign invested firms, small- and medium-sized enterprises at home and abroad for business network expansion domestically and internationally. New strategic partners will team up with HDBank to jointly deploy diverse trade finance programmes, the development investment bank segment, and other advanced financial services,” said Thao.

With shareholders and investors, the bank leadership commits to bringing the highest value and benefits through maintaining high and constant dividends as in previous years, leveraging effective platforms and shining the spotlight on accountability, publicity, and transparency following international standards.