IFC INCREASES LOAN PACKAGE FOR SEABANK TO USD 220 MILLION

HANOI, Vietnam, Jan. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After 7 months, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and international lenders increased the loan package granted to Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank, stock code SSB) from USD 150 million to USD 220 million in order to maintain the cooperation with SeABank in re-financing SMEs, women-owned businesses and the climate. This funding package enabling SeABank to better support businesses, narrow the financial gap and ensure sustainable development.

In the strategic roadmap to support women-owned businesses, SeABank has adopted preferential policies, including diversification of corporate credit granting with a competitive loan to value ratio and free digital service packages to support businesses in digital transformation.

After 4 months of cooperation with effective solutions, IFC and international lenders decided to provide additional funding of USD 70 million, bringing the total credit and trade-financing package for SeABank to USD 220 million. The additional funding was provided by IFC, and international lenders including Banque Internationale de Commerce-BRED, BlueOrchard Microfinance Fund, KASIKORNBANK PCL, OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) and responsAbility Investments AG. These are leading development finance institutions and impact investing firms with the goal of impact investing towards creating social and environmental impact in addition to financial benefits, focusing on small and medium enterprises, the private sector and the environment.

"Supporting SMEs and women-owned businesses has always been a part of SeABank's development strategy. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, SeABank take this as one of its responsibilities in order to contribute to the general economic recovery. Receiving additional fund from IFC and major international lending institutions demonstrated SeABank's ability to access international capital to support businesses, especially SMEs and women-owned enterprises. The additional capital will assist SeABank to strengthen its capability to support the growth of women-owned businesses as well as develop gender-smart action plans and intervention in line with the Bank strategy," said Ms. Le Thu Thuy - General Director of SeABank.

In addition, SeABank is also committed to keeping seeking and financing green buildings and resource-efficient projects in alignment with advice of IFC to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, establish a consistent system for managing environmental, social and governance risks, strengthen the capacity to assess and manage environmental and social risks, support the sustainable development of the Bank as well as help the expansion of green project financing portfolio.

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