HCM CITY — Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) has launched a Business Banking service dedicated to help small businesses in Việt Nam grow their business.

The move followed the recent State Bank of Việt Nam’s licensing of UOB as a foreign-owned subsidiary bank at the end of last month.

Lawrence Loh, UOB’s head of group business banking, said the bank was committed to supporting the growth of Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have a major role to play in the country’s continued economic development. 

“SMEs are the backbone of economies in Asia, and account for 97 per cent of Vietnamese companies,” Loh said. “They are essential to the health of the economy through the goods and services they provide and the jobs they create. Over the last 80 years, UOB has gained first-hand understanding of what it takes to help small businesses prosper and to grow. We have designed our business banking services specifically to meet the needs of small businesses, to enable them to seize business opportunities such as exporting their products and services overseas.”

“To make it easier for small businesses to apply for the services they need, we are also introducing the first in-market digital solutions,” he said. “For example, companies can easily submit their account application through UOB Việt Nam’s website or the bank’s mobile app for businesses, UOB Business, without needing to visit the UOB branch.”

“UOB will then process the application and, if approved, the business can use their account or receive in-principle approval for their loan applications in just one business day,” Loh added.

To help small business owners manage their business more effectively, UOB has put together a range of financial solutions to meet their unique needs.

The solutions includes transaction accounts to manage day-to-day expenses and operations, small business loans to finance the growth of the business and extend cash flows, and trade financing solutions to manage import and export supply chain payments.

Harry Loh, Việt Nam country manager of UOB HCM City Branch, said UOB would organise knowledge-sharing seminars in the city, through which small business owners can learn from their peers and adapt the experience to finance the growth of their business more effectively.

The seminars will also offer insight into the ways in which they can use digital solutions to take advantage of export opportunities, he said.

“Running an SME is demanding and often leaves business owners with little time to identify new business opportunities,” he said. “Through the seminars, we hope that SMEs in Việt Nam will be able to learn from the experiences of others and use the insights to optimize the output of their business strategy and leapfrog to the next stage of growth.” — VNS