Trần Hoài Phương, director of HDBank’s Corporate Banking Division, receives the award on behalf of the bank at a ceremony in Hà Nội on December 1. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HCM CITY — The HCM City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank, or HDBank, has been named among the country’s Top Sustainable Companies in 2022 for a fourth consecutive year by the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

HDBank was awarded along with big names such as Vinamilk, Bảo Việt, BIDV, Deloitte, Unilever, and Samsung at a ceremony held in Hà Nội on December 1.

To achieve this noble recognition, HDBank fully met 150 criteria of the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) for 2022, which attests to the fact that the bank actively applied the CSI in its operations and perfected its business model to bring the maximum benefits to customers, employees, shareholders, and the community.

The recognition honours HDBank’s contributions over the past years to promote a green and sustainable economy.

HDBank has taken the lead in the trend of green transformation and digital economy. In particular, its pioneering innovation and strong financial capacity helps HDBank to reduce costs and bring effective business resources to all economic sectors.

The bank has announced to cut its lending interest rates by up to 3.5 per cent per year until December 31 to support customers to accelerate their production and business activities in the last months of 2022.

Accordingly, more than 43,000 individual and corporate customers across the country with 55,000 loans will enjoy interest rate cuts worth a total of up to VNĐ120 billion (US$4.9 million). In addition, HDBank has waived and reduced associated fees such as early repayment charges for customers.

These are meaningful activities that affirm HDBank's efforts in implementing policies of the Government and the State Bank of Vietnam, contributing to the recovery and development of the economy.

During the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021), HDBank pioneered programmes on interest rate and service charge exemptions and reductions to support customers in a number of sectors directly hit by the pandemic and those in locked down areas under the Government’s Directive 16 with loans worth VNĐ42 trillion ($1.7 billion) enjoying interest rate cuts, which benefitted over 18,000 customers.

Pioneering the field of green credit since 2018, HDBank financed green projects in Việt Nam, providing customers with the best financial solutions towards sustainable values and environmental protection.

Last year, HDBank signed cooperation agreements worth $700 million with foreign partners such as Proparco (the private sector financing branch of Agence Française de Development), DEG (a subsidiary of German investment and development bank KFW Group) and Affinity International Investment Fund to promote sustainable development and create long-term value for the economy, community and society.

Most recently, HDBank and IFC signed a memorandum of understanding on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to scale up finance and participate in global supply chains, including financing the high-tech agricultural supply chain. 

The bank has also actively participated in charity activities across the country such as donating funds to build houses, eye surgeries for poor blind people, health insurance cards to poor households, granting scholarships to students and others.

HDBank has proven its ability to ensure safe and sustainable operations in parallel with high growth rates in terms of both scale and quality. — VNS