In July, the Asian Banking and Finance (ABF) magazine hosted the ABF Wholesale Banking Awards 2024 in Singapore, recognizing excellence in the wholesale banking sector. Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) stood out by winning two prestigious awards: “Vietnam Domestic SME Partnership Initiative of the Year” and “Vietnam Domestic Social Impact Finance Initiative of the Year.”
The ABF awards are judged by experts from top global auditing and consulting firms such as PwC, Deloitte, EY, and Bain and Company. As one of the five largest private joint-stock commercial banks in Vietnam, SHB remains committed to its customer-centric philosophy, continuously striving to provide modern and convenient financial solutions to its clients. The two awards from ABF Wholesale Banking Awards 2024 acknowledge SHB’s innovative initiatives and positive impact on SMEs and women-owned businesses, creating and spreading positive values to society and the community.
Empowering SMEs with Creative Financial Solutions
As part of its digital transformation and technology application strategy in operations and services, SHB collaborated with MISA Joint Stock Company in 2023 to deploy digital banking services on MISA’s accounting software, including MISA AMIS and MISA SME. This integration connects SHB’s Internet Banking system with MISA SME.NET and MISA AMIS Online Accounting subsystem. After each successful payment or fund transfer transaction on SHB’s Internet Banking platform, the data is automatically posted to the enterprise’s accounting software, eliminating the need for manual bookkeeping from bank statements to the software.
The seamless connection between the bank and MISA’s accounting software enables accountants to monitor, supervise, approve, and perform financial transactions anytime, anywhere, and on multiple platforms such as PC, mobile, and tablet. This integration saves up to 80% of processing time and operating costs for businesses. For enterprises already using MISA’s accounting software, customers can integrate and use the service in just 2 minutes by connecting through SHB’s Internet Banking.
Leading the Way in Supporting Women-Owned Enterprises
In addition to its digital solutions and innovative, modern, and convenient products for customers, SHB has been a trusted partner in channeling affordable capital to individuals and businesses, including women-owned enterprises. A notable program is the “Support to Mitigate the Impact of Covid-19 on WSMEs” in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Through this initiative, WSMEs (women-owned businesses) gradually recovered and stabilized their operations after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Specifically, WSMEs affected by Covid-19 received loan restructuring and interest support for six months from SHB, along with waivers or reductions in related fees. Each support package was valued at up to 10,000 USD, funded by ADB. Additionally, SHB offered exclusive benefits to women-owned businesses, including premium lucky account numbers for enterprises and their leaders, free salary payment services, waived Internet banking package fees, domestic transfer fees, and waived charges for the Standard payment account combo for six months.
The bank also signed a credit agreement with IFC for 120 million USD to support the development of its SME lending portfolio, including women-owned businesses and those participating in supply chains. This additional resource enables the bank to continue developing policies and programs to support SMEs in general and WSMEs in particular.
SHB’s sustainable financial solutions and diverse digital products and services for small and medium-sized enterprises have earned recognition from Alpha Southeast Asia magazine as the “Best Sustainable SME Financing Bank.” Previously, SHB was also awarded the “Best SME Bank in Vietnam” by FinanceAsia magazine.
