By Thanh Thuong - The Saigon Times Daily
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| OCB general director Nguyen Dinh Tung (R) shakes hands with Simon Andrews, IFC regional manager for Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam after they sign the credit deal on Thursday - Photo: Courtesy of OCB |
HCMC – Oriental Commercial Bank, or OCB, on Thursday finalized a credit agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and BNP Paribas for a syndicated loan of US$25 million, which will be used to retail to local small enterprises.
IFC, a private-sector financing arm of the World Bank Group, provides US$15 million to OCB and the remaining US$10 million is from BNP Paribas, the local lender’s French strategic partner.
The syndicated loan has an annual interest rate of the London Interbank Offered Rate plus 4.5%.
OCB plans to spend the amount lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including US$5 million set aside for those firms owned or run by businesswomen, said the local lender’s general director Nguyen Dinh Tung.
“OCB in the coming time will strengthen lending activity with the financial support from IFC and BNP Paribas. We will focus on giving credits to SMEs in production, export-import, trade, services and agriculture areas and will give priority to environmentally friendly projects,” Tung said in a statement.
According to the bank, it had earlier received from IFC trade guarantee loans totaling US$20 million. IFC has also assisted the bank in risk management in trade financing targeting local exporters and importers.
IFC specializes in supporting the private sector and developing nations via financial investment and consulting services to companies and governments.
Meanwhile, BNP Paribas as a strategic investor of OCB last year increased its capital contribution to the bank to 20%.