Saigon – Hanoi Bank (SHB) is proud to be the only representative of Vietnam honored as the “Best Sustainable Financing Bank” by Global Finance magazine in 2023. This is a meaningful recognition of SHB’s efforts in sustainable funding, especially transactions towards green economic development.

“Best Sustainable Finance” in 2023 is a prestigious award held annually by Global Finance for financial institutions that have initiated, maintained and developed credit activities to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and help build a sustainable future to the society.

The Jury Board has taken into consideration several objective, independent and stringent criteria during the selection process, including policies, governance goals, as well as measurable achievements in sustainable funding. SHB is the sole bank in Vietnam among 13 countries and territories in Asia – Pacific honored in this category.

As an important financial supply channel of the economy, the banking system in general and SHB in particular have always determined their roles and responsibilities in “greening” investment capital flows for the purpose of promoting sustainable development and actively accompanying the Government towards the goal of responding to climate change. At the award “Best Sustainable Finance”, SHB has fully met the strict criteria of Global Finance such as: designing green products into the bank’s existing lending portfolio; developing preferential conditions for green project loans; implementing a risk management system in green credit extension activities, etc.

SHB is the only bank in Vietnam honored by Global Finance in the 2023 award system

“We are honored to be recognized by Global Finance as the bank with best sustainable financing activities in Vietnam 2023. This is an important recognition of SHB in concretizing the long-term strategy for sustainable development and supporting clients to achieve environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. In the coming time, SHB shall focus on synchronizing risk management and green credit policies, contributing to promoting sustainable development in Vietnam”, the representative of SHB emphasized.

Mr. Joseph Giarraputo, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Global Finance acknowledged the positive contributions of the global financial system to climate change mitigation and adaptation: “Global energy prices go up and down unpredictably in the past few years due to the pandemic and regional conflicts. Still, financial commitments to sustainability have not been shaken.”

The overall strategy for sustainable financing development developed by SHB with aim to better manage environmental and social risks in the investment portfolio, as well as explore new business opportunities, in which Green credit growth is a crucial part.

In recent years, green credit to total outstanding loans ratio of SHB has grown significantly, at almost 10% per year, with upward trend. Specifically in 2021, through the Project on Promoting Energy Saving in Vietnam Industries (VSUEE) funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) via the World Bank (WB), the World Bank and SHB have signed a GCF Guarantee Contract with a total value of USD 75 million. This green capital is guaranteed by SHB for energy saving investment loans, contributing to supporting the Government in realizing national goals on energy security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and responding to climate change.

In addition, SHB always controls the safety and sustainability when funding. Projects should meet strict conditions according to domestic and international standards on environmental protection, energy and resource saving. SHB applies a set of tools to assess environmental and social risks with stringent criteria set by the State Bank of Vietnam and IFC. Not only providing capital support, SHB also accompanies the project owners through technical safety consulting, capacity building…, helping customers meet the requirements of international organizations, providing carbon funding program, training program, loan guarantee…

The Jury Board of Global Finance also highly appreciates SHB’s efforts in community responsibility projects, including the program of “providing support to reduce the impact of COVID-19 for women-owned businesses” funded by ADB. Women-owned businesses facing difficulties due to Covid-19 have been provided with many financial and non-financial support policies by SHB in collaboration with ADB, such as: loan restructuring; commitment fee funding for capital withdrawal; exemption or reduction of related fees; capacity training, business management knowledge…

By the end of 2022, SHB took the lead among the 5 banks participating in the project with a total grant amount of USD 1,700,000 from ADB to directly support customers. In the mean time, at the beginning of 2023, SHB signed a credit cooperation contract with IFC worth USD 120 million, prioritizing the portfolio of women-owned business loans and companies participating in the supply chain such as medical, education, sanitation and transport, thereby helping them access capital at low cost.

“SHB has been striving to maintain the Top 1 position among private commercial joint stock banks in green credit, actively supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in all aspects, contributing to the country’s sustainable development”, added by SHB representative.

Previously in June, SHB was also honored by FinanceAsia for the award “Best ESG Impact in Vietnam” for its persistence in sustainable development goals, and honored as “Outstanding Bank for Green Credit in 2022” and “Bank accompanying Small and Medium Enterprises in 2022” by the International Data Group (IDG) in collaboration with Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA).