“SeABank Tops the List of Best-Governed Companies in VLCA 2024”

24 November, 2024

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These prestigious awards are a testament to the effectiveness of a sustainable development strategy with a focus on Governance, Environment, and Society (ESG), affirming SeABank’s position, reputation, and efforts over the past time.

On November 16, 2024, during the awards ceremony for the “Listed Company Voting 2024” (VLCA 2024) to honor the most outstanding listed companies, SeABank was proud to be ranked first in the Top 10 Best Corporate Governance Companies (Midcap group – medium capitalization).

Milestone in Corporate Governance

On the journey of implementing a sustainable development strategy with a focus on ESG, improving governance capabilities is an important core that orients the comprehensive sustainable development of the Bank.

With this orientation, SeABank focuses on optimizing its sustainable governance model to create momentum for sustainable growth and ensure the interests of stakeholders. Thanks to this, SeABank has gone through many rounds of evaluation and left behind hundreds of enterprises to lead in the Top 10 Best Corporate Governance Companies (Midcap group – medium capitalization). At the same time, SeABank was also honored in the “Top 10 Best Annual Reports – Financial Sector” for the 2023 Annual Report.

The “Listed Company Voting 2024” is organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, Hanoi Stock Exchange, Investment Newspaper, and Dragon Capital Vietnam to improve corporate governance quality, ensure information disclosure obligations, and encourage good practices on ESG. Accordingly, the program focuses on three main categories: Corporate Governance, Annual Report, and Sustainable Development Report. Each category has a strict process, set of criteria, and evaluation council, with in-depth technical support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), and is audited by four leading international auditing firms in Vietnam.

“Winning a ‘double’ of 2/3 major award categories at VLCA 2024, especially the leading position in Corporate Governance, is an important milestone that recognizes SeABank’s outstanding progress in optimizing its sustainable governance model. In addition, the award for the Annual Report demonstrates SeABank’s proactive transparency in fully disclosing information as required, thereby affirming the Bank’s position, reputation, and efforts in ensuring the rights and interests of shareholders and investors,” said Mr. Fergus Macdonald Clark, Independent Member of the Board of Directors of SeABank, with extensive international market experience in risk management and sustainable development.

Strengthening the Governance Foundation for Sustainable Development

Throughout its operation, SeABank has been one of the pioneering banks in sustainable development, with a focus on consolidating the foundation of corporate governance to create momentum for growth by applying good practices in Vietnam and internationally, improving governance structures and optimizing governance models, thereby ensuring the rights and interests of shareholders, customers, and stakeholders.

SeABank is a pioneer in applying international best practices in corporate governance, such as the IFC’s Corporate Governance Code, G20/OECD, and the ASEAN Governance Scorecard. At the same time, the Bank has implemented the Basel III risk management framework and completed all three pillars of Basel II ahead of schedule to ensure stable capital and liquidity. SeABank is also one of the first banks to apply the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS9) in financial reporting governance and implement the Three Lines of Defense model along with the COSO internal control system, minimizing risks through self-inspection, supervision, and cross-checking between the lines.

In terms of reporting and information disclosure, SeABank has implemented international reporting frameworks according to IFC, Basel III, and IFRS standards and has made efforts to improve the quality of annual reports, management reports, and sustainable development reports in accordance with legal regulations and international reference frameworks such as GRI to transparentize the Bank’s information to related parties.

Thanks to these efforts, the Bank has maintained its Ba3 rating from Moody’s in 2024 with a stable outlook, reflecting its high capitalization and stable asset quality. Accordingly, SeABank has gained the trust of international partners such as DFC, IFC, AIIB, and Norfund, who have invested more than 850 million USD in the Bank. The recognition and cooperation of international organizations have helped consolidate SeABank’s capital, technical support, and sustainable growth momentum for the future.

Closely following the sustainable development strategy, SeABank will continue to improve its comprehensive effectiveness in bank governance, risk management, enhance the capacity of human resources, organizational culture, social welfare, and the environment. Through these initiatives, the Bank ensures a solid governance foundation for sustainable business operations that are closely linked to the interests of customers, shareholders, and stakeholders.

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