The Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) of Vietnam has been named as “Bank of the Year 2020”. This award is annually selected by The Banker’s judges. The prestigious award was announced the day before yesterday.
The “Bank of the Year” award is exclusively awarded to the top bank in each country. It is the world’s longest running and most prestigious international banking title and regarded as ‘the Oscar’ award of the Banking Industry.
Supporting the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) segment has been at the forefront of the operations of SHB in recent months, showing a level of dedication that has helped it win the Bank of the Year award for Vietnam.
During December 2019, the bank agreed a partnership with Amazon Vietnam to help finance online sellers, with the goal of assisting companies to explore online exporting during 2020. By signing a memorandum of understanding with Amazon, it pledged to help Vietnamese companies build their brands online, develop an e-commerce workforce in the country and work together on the development of policy. Under the agreement, SHB acted as the sole bank to finance and provide banking solutions to Vietnamese SME sellers on the Amazon platform. The creation of the partnership proved to be timely, as the emergence of Covid-19 pushed many Vietnamese consumers to shop online.
Customers were also helped through the pandemic with the launch of a VND25,000bn ($1.1bn) credit package, and the reduction of interest rates to 2% per year applicable to existing loans held by customers experiencing issues caused by coronavirus. Fees were also removed for electronic interbank payments, and the removal of fees for customers making payments to the Fund for Fighting Covid-19.
Depositing customers were given the opportunity to join the An Phuc savings product, in conjunction with Dai-ichi Life Insurance. All customers who opened a savings account with a minimum of VND100m and a minimum term of six months were given an interest rate of 0.5% for the first year. Customers can then receive a gift voucher to pay the first premium of a life insurance policy from Dai-ichi Life Vietnam, covering accident, critical illness and healthcare. The voucher is not tied to the individual holding the account and can be gifted to friends and relatives.
According to The Banker, 2020 has been an incredibly tough year, as the Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill. The difficult operating environment makes this year’s winners in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards even more deserving of the Bracken trophy.
Not only have they successfully managed the pressures of running their operations remotely, but have also taken care of their customers and staff, responding rapidly to their needs and stepping up support in these demanding times.
“Our judges were impressed with the role banks played in delivering much needed government funding, as well as providing specific measures themselves.” the Banker’s editor told Vietnam Insider.
Founded in 1926 and based in London (England), The Banker by Financial Times is now one of the world’s leading journals for economics, finance and commerce. Each year, The Banker selects one winning bank for each of the countries judged. Over 1,000 applications are collected and judges select winning banks based on evidence provided to determine the Bank in each country which saw the most overall progress in the past 12 months.
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Source: Vietnam Insider