ABBANK, ADB and PWC jointly launch "Green Banking Capacity Building" program

An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBANK) has just officially launched the “Capacity Building on Green Banking” program. The program is funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction through the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and is an activity within the TA10094-VIE: Promoting Financial Inclusion and Climate Finance of ADB for the Government of Vietnam. The Capacity Building program is implemented by PwC Consulting Company.

Representing ABBANK, Mr. Pham Duy Hieu - General Director presented flowers to the leaders of the partners, Mr. Shantanu Chakraborty - ADB Country Director in Vietnam and Ms. Dinh Thi Quynh Van - Chairwoman of PwC Vietnam Company Limited.

The implementation of the “Green Banking Capacity Building” program is part of ABBANK’s plan to focus on sowing and nurturing sustainable development initiatives in accordance with ESG (Environment, Society, Governance) standards, aiming to promote innovation from the green finance sector, sustainable development, and enhance the role of social responsibility of the Bank and corporate customers.

BBANK implements this program with support from major partners ADB through PwC and the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) on green finance capacity building techniques, including developing green financial products and services for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Women-owned and/or Operated SMEs (WSMEs).

The project aims to support ABBANK in assessing gaps in green banking, green finance, and sustainable finance implementation, helping the Bank to enhance its capacity and develop a roadmap for implementing proposals towards the goal of expanding its green finance portfolio, including: Complying with national and international standards on sustainable finance; Developing disclosure reports in line with domestic and international standards, and; Developing green finance products in line with the Bank’s strategy, with a focus on including women-owned and/or -operated SMEs, as part of the Bank’s efforts towards a green economy transition.

Specifically, PwC will coordinate with ABBANK to conduct a comprehensive assessment including some main contents such as: Evaluating the green credit portfolio according to domestic and international standards, classified by project size (large, SME, WSME); Reviewing the Bank's green finance strategy and policies; Evaluating the credit process for green finance loans (from documents to loan approval appraisal, including WSME loans); Reviewing existing green credit products.

Assessing the management information system (MIS) in monitoring, classifying and reporting green credit portfolio; Assessing the ability to identify and manage environmental risks (including climate change risks), social risks for loans, risk management capacity related to green projects; Assessing the ability to build and issue green bonds for the Bank and for customers; reviewing KPIs related to green banking and related information disclosure; assessing green finance strategies for specific areas... At the same time, ABBANK received support from the project on capacity building training for specialized personnel.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Shantanu Chakraborty - ADB Country Director in Vietnam said: "We are pleased to see that ABBANK has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting sustainable finance with the establishment of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Sustainable Development Strategy Committee to develop, implement and monitor ESG-related activities, programs and initiatives, ensuring they are consistent with the bank's sustainable development strategy."

ABBANK officially launched the “Capacity Building on Green Banking” program. The program is funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction through ADB. The Capacity Building program is implemented by PwC.

The “Capacity Building Program on Green Banking” for ABBANK is aligned with ADB’s operational priorities under Strategy 2030 and ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Vietnam, aiming to support Vietnamese banks in enhancing their green finance capacity and greening their banks. The program is expected to be implemented and completed by ABBANK within 20 months, continuing to lay a solid foundation and demonstrating ABBANK’s strong commitment to practicing sustainable governance, operations and business, contributing to a sustainable financial future with the community.

Sharing about the Project, Mr. Pham Duy Hieu - General Director of ABBANK commented: "Today's launching ceremony is not only an important milestone in the process of implementing the technical assistance program, but also a testament to the spirit of effective cooperation, mutual respect and sustainable development among the parties. We expect that, through this program, ABBANK will gradually perfect the green banking capacity framework, thereby creating a solid foundation to expand cooperation with international financial institutions and partners with the same orientation of green and sustainable development in the future."

Recently, also in June 2025, within the framework of other technical assistance from ADB, from the funding of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), ABBANK implemented the Gender Gap Assessment program and a number of activities to support gender awareness raising for Bank staff. The gender gap assessment was implemented by Palladium International Consulting Company and MeKong Economics Company, including both quantitative and qualitative assessments, as a basis for developing a report with recommendations on areas where banking needs to improve in bringing a gender lens into banking operations to exploit advantages, potentials and build approaches suitable to the characteristics and needs of the female customer segment, female enterprises, and WSMEs.

The Gender Gap Assessment program is expected to be implemented and completed within 5 months. Previously, in November 2024, ABBANK, ADB and ERM also launched the project to build an "Environmental and Social Management System" (ESMS) for Trade Finance Activities. Along with projects towards a green financial future, in 2025 ABBANK will also promote cooperation with organizations and businesses such as SVF, VietED Group, 315 Health System... to accompany the implementation of business initiatives and social service in depth, creating long-term impacts for the community. This is not only ABBANK's long-term strategy, but once again affirms ABBANK's strong actions in implementing sustainable development goals in Vietnam.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/abbank-adb-va-pwc-cung-khoi-dong-chuong-trinh-nang-cao-nang-luc-ve-ngan-hang-xanh-d327233.html