As a bank that stays true to its commitment of remaining professional, friendly, and modern, BIDV has increasingly shone on the path to overcoming challenges and achieving success. – Phan Duc Tu, Chairman

Company profile:

Background

1. BIDV was founded on 26 April 1957, initially titled Bank for Construction of Vietnam, and later renamed:
   1. Bank for Investment and Construction of Vietnam (1981 – 1990)
   2. Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (1990 – 2012)
   3. Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (since 2012)
2. Since 2014, BIDV has been listed on the stock exchange under the code BID, operating effectively in the international markets.
3. In November 2019, BIDV officially announced KEB Hana Bank as their foreign strategic shareholder with 15% ownership of BIDV’s charter capital.

Challenge

1. BIDV understands the key societal challenges such as hunger elimination, poverty reduction, and improving living conditions in Vietnam, and these challenges are being solved by BIDV through helping SMEs.
2. BIDV identifies that SMEs in Vietnam have the following issues while running their businesses:
   1. Lack of financial access to rural areas and women
   2. Inadequate skills within employees
   3. No capital for digitalisation

Solution:

BIDV received the ’Best SME Deal’ for its efforts to implement solutions for supporting SMEs for the following reasons:

1. Commitment to sustainable development and environmental protection.
2. SME development in rural areas and women-owned SMEs.
3. Preferential credit programs which have actively supported the bank’s SME customers in winning import-export contracts, developing business activities, promoting the circular economy, reusing agricultural waste products, contributing to poverty reduction, and creating jobs for many female labourers as well as low-income people in difficult rural areas.
4. Preferential pricing policy with lower interest rates, lower guarantee fees and transfer fees compared to regular customers.

Business Model

It is the only bank to be selected by the Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment to sign a master agreement on implementing indirect loans from the SME Development Fund. Currently, the bank:

1. Extends VND 288,241 billion worth of loans to SMEs in 2018.
2. Diversifies product portfolios for SME customers towards increasing products of high-tech content and utilities for businesses such as launching Online borrowing for business via BIDV’s website and cashless payment.
3. Provides over VND100,000 billion of preferential loans through credit packages and programs to support potential SMEs, micro-businesses, and start-ups.
4. Enables access to preferential medium and long-term capital from international donors.
5. Supports SME business banking needs through their mobile applications: BIDV iBank and BIDV business online.

People strategy

1. BIDV focuses on reforming recruitment, organizing training courses, and developing and issuing employee evaluation mechanisms for each position.
2. The bank has organized 408 training courses with a focus on knowledge training, management skills, working skills for leaders at all levels and employees across the system, aiming at enhancing the quality of human resources to meet the international standards to provide the best products and services to customers.
3. The bank focuses on staff rotation to foster broader skillset and increase professionalism among the employees.

Partnership strategy

BIDV bank entered into a strategic partnership with KEB Hana Bank to:

1. Change the governance model, improve management capacity, and manage risks.
2. Develop modern products and services of high technology content.
3. Strengthen competitiveness in order to better meet the needs of customers and contribute to national development.
4. The bank is in partnership with 22 fintech companies, including Vingroup’s VinID e-wallet, FPT wallet company’s Senpay e-wallet, Viettel’s Viettel Pay, and PayTech’s VitaPay e-wallet.

Technology Strategy

1. The bank developed modern distribution channels for digital transformation such as Internet banking, Mobile banking, Web Chat, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
2. BIDV implemented Robotic technology for the check payment operation.
3. It has also implemented innovative products like Samsung pay, QR Pay, Chat-bot, blockchain applications, robotic technologies, and artificial intelligence in operations.
4. Furthermore, big data models and analytical tools to evaluate customer lifecycle value, up-sell and cross-sell of products.

Results

BIDV’s relentless effort to support SMEs and implement innovative solutions, especially for women-owned and rural SMEs is making it the go-to-bank in Vietnam. Further, the bank’s continuous investment in digital transformation is enabling it to deliver integrated, targeted solutions in an efficient way have resulted in the following results for SME growth:

• BIDV’s net service revenue from SMEs achieved impressive growth of 21 percent in 2018 compared to 2017.
• The total net service income of BIDV bank in 2019 was 4,284 billion Vietnamese dong.

Note: The revenue values are reflective of total revenue arising from overall banking business.

The way forward

• Meet the needs of customers and strengthen the customer experience.
• Ensure the quality of products and services and take stringent measures in order to maintain customer data privacy.