SME credit makes up 26 per cent of VietinBank’s credit balance

VietinBank is committed to help SMEs sail through the tough time

The information was revealed by Tran Minh Binh, general director of VietinBank, at the seminar titled “VietinBank SME Stronger – Accompanying companies to sail through the tides” held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 7.

Accordingly, by the end of June 2020, outstanding loan balance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reached VND247 trillion ($10.74 billion), accounting for 26 per cent of total outstanding loans for corporate customers and maintaining credit growth of 2 per cent.

SMEs play an important role in the Vietnamese economy. Therefore, the VietSME customer segment has become a key focus area of VietinBank’s long-term development strategy.

Minh said that SMEs have been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis and the disruption of cash flows has threatened SMEs’ survival. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, VietinBank has implemented a slew of financial measures to support SME customers during the tough times. The measures include flexible credit packages with fixed interest rates, a VND10 trillion ($434.78 million) loan package to support enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City as well as preferential loan interest rates for startups worth VND3 trillion ($130.43 million).

Between January 23 and June 19, VietinBank has disbursed loans worth VND180 trillion ($7.83 billion) to nearly 7,000 customers affected by COVID-19 pandemic with interest rates down 0.5 per cent per year compared to the period before COVID-19. Among them, there are 500 SME customers.

VietinBank also announced that its credit balance including foreign individuals reach VND946.1 trillion ($41.13 billion), up 0.4 per cent in the first half of 2020. At the end of the first quarter, VietinBank’s total assets reached VND1.2 quadrillion ($52.17 billion), down 2 per cent against the beginning of this year. Customer loans decreased by 1.3 per cent while customer deposits reached VND895.75 trillion ($38.95 billion), up 1 per cent. Bad debts stood at VND16.92 trillion ($735.65 million), a 55 per cent increase while the ratio of non-performing loans increased from 1.15 to 1.83 per cent.