Barclays enters Vietnam with VND12.5 billion support

British Barclays PLC has announced it will provide financial security worth VND12.5 billion through a partnership with CARE International to help disadvantaged young people in the Mekong Delta province of Long An.

This marks the first step taken by the banking corporation to enter the Vietnamese market where it is planning a long-term investment strategy.

The financial partnership between Barclays and CARE International, the world’s largest independent relief and development organization, will benefit around 10,000 young people in Long An, who are dealing with unemployment.

Barclays top executives told reporters in Hanoi on Tuesday during their Vietnam visit that through the financial support, they were helping people help themselves.

“We do not give people fish, what we give them is the way to fish,” said Marcus Agius, chairman of Barclays PLC. He furthered that the partnership with CARE International is a demonstration of Barclays commitments to Vietnam.

As part of a partnership project valued at 10 million pounds that Barclays is working with two NGOs, CARE International and Plan International, the financial assistance for Long An young people will be achieved by testing a new savings and loans model and subsequently linking them to formal microfinance institutions.

According to Barclays, a targeted component of financial literacy and entrepreneurship will be delivered to 10,000 young beneficiaries in the province to help them reduce poverty and unemployment.

Agius explained that this 10 million-pound partnership would strengthen and build upon the traditional financial systems that are utilized by the un-banked population in developing nations. This will benefit disadvantaged communities through enabling them to secure a more sustainable financial future.

CARE International will help deliver the financial aid to 10,000 disadvantaged people through traditional financial structures, such as village savings and loans associations (VSLA), self-help groups and revolving funds.

Peter Newsum, country director for CARE International in Vietnam, said after the initial partnership in Long An, the two sides would revise how the project works and then consider if more projects could be included.

“We chose Long An as the province has a number of jobless young people as part of impacts from urbanization. They have to seek job opportunities in cities and we would like to give a helping hand to them,” he stated.

Agius said Barclays was seeing potentials in investment banking and investment management services in Vietnam’s financial market.

“Barclays has a twin-track strategy: crisis management in short term and strategic momentum maintenance for long term. We could be happy to do it here." (SGT)