<article>The <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/asian-development-bank/">Asian Development Bank</a> (ADB) and Vietnam’s <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/BIDV/">BIDV</a> have signed a $300-million loan agreement to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.</article>

The <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/asian-development-bank/">Asian Development Bank</a> (ADB) and Vietnam’s <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/BIDV/">BIDV</a> have signed a $300-million loan agreement to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
The facility comprises a senior unsecured A loan of $200 million provided by ADB and a B loan of $100 million provided by 12 commercial lenders.
The twelve commercial banks joining force in the initiative are from South Korea, China and Taipei.
“ADB’s partnering with BIDV, the largest lender to the country’s SME sector, will boost lending to businesses, which often find it challenging to gain access to finance,” Michael Barrow, director of ADB’s private sector operations department, said in a statement.
BIDV, or the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, has 250,000 SME customers, representing almost 40 per cent of the total SMEs in the country, as of 30 June 2018. Its lending portfolio to SMEs reached over VND240 trillion ($10.4 billion), giving it the largest share of SME lending among Vietnamese banks.
“The facility will support SMEs in Vietnam and also reaffirms our partnership with ADB in achieving poverty reduction, economic growth, regional integration, and environmental protection,” said BIDV chairman Phan Duc Tu.
The loan will make ADB the first development finance institution to provide long-term lending to BIDV.
Digital finance will be promoted through the introduction of new digital products to reach financially under-served populations in rural areas including SMEs owned by women, ADB said.
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Asian Development Bank and Vietnam’s BIDV have signed a $300-million loan agreement to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

ADB, Vietnam's BIDV in $300m SME financing pact

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ADB, Vietnam's BIDV in $300m SME financing pact

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