IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vemanti Group, Inc. (“Vemanti” “Vemanti Group” or the “Company”) (OTCQB: VMNT) and Vietnam Public Joint-stock Commercial Bank (“PVcomBank” or the “Bank”) today announced a joint pilot digital lending program aimed at driving growth for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The program includes a portfolio of nimble and innovative products collaboratively developed by both parties for the SME clientele. The initial product to kickstart the program will be a unique financing option designed to provide small US-bound exporters—majority of which are SMEs—access to short-term loans at competitive rates. At the end of the pilot period, the full program will be available via PVcomBank branches and digital banking platform.
SMEs currently play a major role in Vietnam’s economy (US$362.6 billion in 2021 per the World Bank), accounting for more than 41% of its GDP according to the Vietnam Association of SMEs. However, it is estimated that currently 70% of SMEs lack viable options when it comes to short-term working capital loans. This is their biggest obstacle in the course of conducting business. Growing exports and overseas opportunities only exacerbate the problem, as they often face long accounts receivable (AR) cycles of more than 2 months on the average. The new lending program will allow businesses to borrow based on their existing trade receivables. They can use the capital to cover strategic business needs, such as staffing, operations costs, inventory, product development, and manufacturing, as well as marketing efforts to build their brand and grow their customer base.
“One of our targets is to provide quick and easy financing for the underserved SMEs that make up the majority of current economic activity and future growth of Vietnam, an attractive up-and-coming market on a global scale. We are thrilled to launch this program to make the opportunity of selling to US-based buyers more accessible for those businesses,” said Tan Tran, CEO of Vemanti. “PVcomBank shares our commitment to championing underserved populations of business owners, knowing they often lack access to the more traditional methods of capital.”
Each loan application will be jointly evaluated and approved by both parties based on a proprietary decision-making and credit-rating system catering specifically to SMEs. The approval process is expected to take about a week for a new borrower and as little as 24 hours for a returning borrower. The program offers speed, transparency, and simplicity utilizing a digital platform that streamlines and automates parts of the underwriting and funding process.
Digital lending is now one of the hottest trends in the global banking, financial services and insurance market. However, digital lending in Vietnam is still at an embryonic stage. The program is one of the first supported by an incumbent bank in the country. Vemanti’s objectives for the next 12 months are to grow its product portfolio through PVcomBank and to become a market leader in short-term financing for the export-driven SMEs in Vietnam. The committed partnership with PVcomBank will further solidify and propel its business objectives as the first SME-focused digital banking platform in Vietnam. On its roadmap will also be other SME-related financial products such as business credit line, employee salary advance, PO finance, equity finance, and more. Ultimately, its goal is to have a collection of comprehensive financial products and services built around the actual needs of small businesses.
Ha Nguyen, Deputy CEO of PVcomBank, added, “Vemanti is on a mission to support and empower SMEs, just like us, so the partnership is a great fit. The program is the perfect place to make these kinds of financing programs available that can truly make a difference for a lot of businesses. We are thrilled to be a partner with Vemanti in helping solve liquidity challenges for Vietnamese businesses.”
For more news and updates, shareholders and prospective investors are encouraged to follow @Vemanti on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Vemanti).
About Vemanti Group, Inc.
Vemanti Group, Inc. (OTCQB: VMNT) is a financial technology (fintech) company that seeks to establish a strong foothold in the emerging and high-growth markets of Southeast Asia. We drive growth through socially impact-driven financial services targeting the underserved. Strategically, we intend to focus future product and business development on building a digital banking (aka neobanking) platform aimed at making credit and cross-border payments simpler and easier for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). With Vietnam as the focal starting point, our goal is to be a valuable financial partner for the SMEs throughout Southeast Asia, helping their business become borderless and together shaping the region into a global economic powerhouse of growing supply chains and manufacturing. To learn more about VMNT, visit https://www.vemanti.com/
About PVcomBank
Vietnam Public Joint Stock Commercial Bank (PVcomBank) was founded on September 16, 2013, as a corporate amalgamation between PetroVietnam Finance Joint Stock Corporation (PVFC) and Western Joint Stock Commercial Bank (WesternBank). On October 1, 2013, PVcomBank officially operated with a charter capital of 9,000 billion VND and total assets of more than 100,000 billion VND, equivalent to 390M USD & 4.4B USD. Up to now, PVcomBank has developed a strong network of nearly 110 transaction offices in 28 provinces and cities nationwide with nearly 4,700 employees and total assets of more than 200,000 billion VND. With the mission "Bank with no boundary", PVcomBank has been constantly developing the product ecosystem, improving service quality on all transaction channels, meeting the diverse and increasing needs of different corporate and individual customer segments. Being one of the pioneer banks in digitalization, PVcomBank incessantly updates and applies modern technology to promote Digital banking with outstanding advantages. Preeminent financial solutions in the digital space not only help customers get closer to PVcomBank, but also blur the gap between dreams and reality. Without barriers of space, time or geographical distance, customers can quickly achieve their goals in certain stage of life and enjoy flexible convenient experiences from modern products with professional, friendly and dedicated services. We were named as one of the Top 500 Fastest Growing Enterprises in Vietnam (FAST500) by the Vietnam Report JSC and the VietNamNet e-newspaper on March 10, 2021. To learn more about PVcomBank, visit https://www.pvcombank.com.vn/
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Contact Information
Vemanti Group, Inc.
Investor Relations
+1.949.559.7200
ir@vemanti.com
Vietnam Public Joint Stock Commercial Bank
Public Relations
+84.24.3942.6800
pvb@pvcombank.com.vn
