The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering providing up to $86 million in long-term financing to Vietnam’s Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank) to expand lending to small businesses, women entrepreneurs and affordable housing, according to documents seen by Crowdfund Insider.
The proposed five-year unsecured senior loan would support SeABank’s social finance programme and help fund eligible assets under a Social Loan Framework that the lender is developing with IFC’s advisory support.
The framework will align with the Loan Market Association’s Social Loan Principles, the documents showed.
About a quarter of the loan proceeds will be earmarked for women borrowers, including women-owned micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), underscoring IFC’s focus on narrowing financing gaps for female entrepreneurs in Vietnam.
Alongside the investment, IFC is advising SeABank on building a broader social finance platform, including identifying eligible assets in its existing loan portfolio, developing a social finance framework for future loans and potential social bond issuances, and strengthening the bank’s reporting and governance practices.
IFC expects the project to improve access to finance for MSMEs, self-employed individuals and affordable housing borrowers while helping establish a more robust social finance market in Vietnam through demonstration and capacity building.
SeABank, founded in 1994 and headquartered in Hanoi, operates 183 branches and transaction offices nationwide.
The bank is listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and had a market capitalisation of about $1.88 billion as of June 2, 2026. Its largest shareholders include vice chairwoman Nguyen Thi Nga and related parties.
IFC said the financing would provide SeABank with stable five-year funding that is not readily available in the local market and could help attract additional investors by signalling confidence in the lender’s social finance strategy.
The advisory support will also include assistance in obtaining an independent second-party opinion for the social finance framework and building internal capacity to originate and manage social finance assets.
