At a HDBank transaction office in HCM City. HDBank supports Vietnamese businesses’ imports of US agricultural products. — Photo courtesy of HDBank

HCM CITY — Vietnamese importers now have more opportunities to link up with prestigious US exporters to import agricultural commodities at competitive prices under the US Department of Agriculture’s Export Credit Guarantee Programme (GSM-102) and HDBank’s financial sponsorship and credit guarantee.

HDBank has joined the USDA's GSM -102 Programme under which Vietnamese businesses buying goods from US exporters will be offered financial support at low cost and have more opportunities to choose large sources of quality agricultural products to serve their production, processing and consumption.

Vietnamese importers will be guaranteed by the USDA based on letters of credit (L/Cs) issued by HDBank at a competitive cost to gain additional financial backing to get foreign currency for scheduled payments and effectively take advantage of preferential HDBank financing.

The guarantee period for L/Cs at sight and deferred L/Cs issued by HDBank is 18 months for loans in US dollars.

The programme applies to exporters and importers in the USDA-approved GSM -102 programme list. The list of eligible commodities under the programme is updated at https://www.fas.usda.gov/excredits/gsmcommodities.html. They include frozen foods, fresh products, meat, spices, intermediate goods, and bulk products such as leather, flour, paper, cereals, and oilseeds.

The programme for providing credit guarantees for Vietnamese businesses importing US agricultural products is an effort made by the bank to offer export and import customers with diversified services. It also underlines HDBank's position in trade finance activities in the domestic and international markets.

As of December 31, 2019, HDBank has a total consolidated asset of VNĐ229.477 trillion (US$9.68 billion). Its equity was worth VNĐ20.381 trillion ($860.36 million) and profit before tax was worth VNĐ5.018 trillion ($221.76 million).

The bad debt ratio in particular has always been well controlled, at 0.98 per cent as of last year, and among the lowest rates in the industry for many years. — VNS