Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) has secured a US$25 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to expand access to funding for women-owned-and-led small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam. The project is also co-financed with another US$25 million by DEG, the German government’s investment corporation.

The loan is accompanied by a US$750,000 technical assistance grant, funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), to help TPBank better meet the needs of the targeted enterprises.

The Vietnamese lender will use the grant to build its capacity to lend, hire staff, promote its services to female borrowers, and use digital systems to analyze the underserved targeted market.

“We are very pleased to partner with TPBank and We-Fi to support women-owned-and-led small and medium-sized enterprises, which are important channels to increase women’s participation in Vietnam’s economic development,” Suzanne Gaboury, ADB’s director general for private sector operations, said in a January 12 statement from Manila, where ADB is based.

As of 2018, the majority of businesses in Vietnam are classified as small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting 38% of the country’s employment and generating 40% of the gross domestic product. But their access to finance is still a challenge, with only 37% of women-owned-and-led small and medium-sized enterprises able to obtain loans from banks.

TPBank, one of the leading commercial banks in Vietnam, has robust digital platforms that help meet the needs of its retail and SME customers by offering innovative and customized products.

The State Bank of Vietnam in December allowed TPBank to increase its charter capital by 35%, equivalent to 4.1 trillion dong (US$177.8 million), by issuing common shares to its existing shareholders.

TPBank plans to issue more than 410 million shares at a rate of 35%. Consequently, shareholders holding 100 shares will receive 35 new shares, which are not subject to transfer restrictions. The planned issuance will raise its charter capital to 15.82 trillion dong (almost US$688 million).

In the third quarter of 2021, TPBank increased its charter capital by 1 trillion dong through private offerings, putting its total charter capital to almost 11.72 trillion dong.