HDBank receives Labour Medal on 30th anniversary
HDBank receives Labour Medal on 30th anniversary
The HCM City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank, formally known as HDBank, on Saturday received the President’s Labour Medal for its “outstanding achievements in business and credit activities and corporate social responsibility” on the occasion of 30th anniversary of the bank’s founding. 
Speaking at the ceremony, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, permanent vice chairwoman of HDBank, said with its orientation towards strong and sustainable growth and effective risk management, HDBank has maintained the best asset quality in the banking sector after 30 years of development.
“In recent years HDBank has been among banks achieving outstanding growth rates. Its assets increased 22-fold between 2008 and 2018, to more than VND216 trillion ($9.3 billion), and listed among the most efficient banks in Viet Nam.”
Its return on assets and return on equity, which are profitability indicators, have always been at high levels. Its bad debt ratio is well under control at only 1 per cent.
“We aim to build a multi-purpose bank to become one of the largest commercial banks in Viet Nam and to become a people’s bank for the 2020-2025 period.”
For years, the bank has achieved excellent business results in all areas, such as operating scale, network, services and solutions offered to individual customers, utility products and services, contributions to the market, and evaluation by customers, with a focus on the retail segment.
Following the rise of fintech and banking digitalisation, HDBank has reacted with cashless promotions. HDBank has offered added value for millions of customers over the years, given its advantages with a unique ecosystem of consumer finance, aviation, and real estate, among others, she said.
In addition, Moody’s has upgraded HDBank’s credit rating to B1 with a stable outlook.
Nguyen Thien Nhan, secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, spoke highly of HDBank’s positive contributions to the city’s socio-economic development in recent years.
HDBank had shown its corporate social responsibility by giving 24,000 health insurance cards to near-poor households, offering 12,000 eye surgeries for the poor with cataracts, offering more than 100 Houses of Love to those in need throughout the country, he said.
It had also awarded 2,000 scholarships to poor children in mountainous provinces; as well as building bridges for poor people in Mekong Delta provinces, he added.
Nhan said HDBank should aim to ultimately become a “happy development bank” to improve the happiness of all of its employees, customers and society as a whole.
Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of the State Bank Viet Nam, said HDBank in 2019 received approval from the State Bank of Viet Nam to adopt Basel II standards, an international benchmark for risk management that the Vietnamese commercial banking system is aiming to gradually adopt to strengthen risk management and improve operational efficiency.
“The SBV’s decision indicates that HDBank’s risk management capacity has met its stringent standards for the finance and banking sector to ensure safer, more efficient, sustainable and transparent business operations,” he noted.
Merged with Dai A Bank in 2013 and buyer of France’s Societe Generale Viet Finance, HDBank has become one of the largest lenders in the country.
In 2018, HDBank achieved various milestones, including its official listing on the HCM City Stock Exchange (HoSE) in early 2018, the subsequent surge of HDB shares to the Top 20 largest shares by market capitalisation, and its appearance in the Top 8 credit institutions in the market.
In addition, HDBank on December 18, 2019 opened its first overseas representative office in Myanmar, marking the strategy of reaching out to the international market.
HDBank has a network of 285 branches and transaction offices, nearly 16,000 transaction points across 63 provinces and cities, with 16,500 professional and dedicated employees.
HDBank is one of 10 Vietnamese banks named among the 500 biggest banks in the Southeast Asia region, according to AsiaBanker, the first bank in Viet Nam to receive the “Green Deal Award” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB); Top 40 most prestigious brands in Viet Nam voted by Forbes; two consecutive years rated as the Best Companies to Work For in Asia award from HR Asia.
Established in 1990, formerly known as HCM City Housing Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank, the bank had initial capital of VND3 billion, total assets of VND20 billion and 17 employees. The bank officially changed its name to HDBank in 2011.
