Vietnamese banks continue to grow consumer lending arms

Techcombank is allowing borrowers to loan up to 10 times their monthly income.

Banks in Vietnam continued to grow their retail businesses in January with aggressive promotions and loan packages designed to capitalise on the heated spending ahead of the New Year festivities, reports Viet Nam News. 

Also read: Vietnam steps up efforts to boost weakened banking sector

Tiên Phong Joint Stock Commercial Bank (TPBank) launched a quick auto loan programme with the aim of approving loan appraisals within eight hours, Similarly, Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) is enabling borrowers to loan up to 10 times their monthly income but not exceeding US$12,880 (VND300m) without the requirement of collateral or deposits.

Foreign banks like Shinhan Bank and Standard Chartered Vietnam are also hoping to lure the deposits of the country’s rapidly growing middle-class with attractive loan offerings. The Korean-based lender is offering loans of 10-12 times their salary as long as their salaries are being paid into the bank whilst Standard Chartered is offering loans of up to $38,870 (VND900m) over 12-60 months.

Banks in Vietnam have been embracing the retail model as they aim to capitalise on the consumer finance market is tipped to be worth $44b by 2020.

Consumer loans also grew by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52.3% from 2013-2017. The development was particularly evident in 2017 when consumer finance surged 32.5%, effectively contributing 5.43% to headline credit growth figures (18.17%).