HDBank and Unilever Vietnam Partner to Finance Distributors, Retailers

HDBank and Unilever Vietnam will be working together to optimize supply chains and add to service quality, a press release said Saturday (July 23).

HDBank is one of the biggest banks in Vietnam, and Unilever Vietnam is a big consumer goods company there.

HDBank offering financing and banking services to distributors and retailers, who will also benefit from Unilever’s strategies and incentives.

The release said customers will be able to make cashless payments on their smartphones with HDBank’s app and QR Pay technology. HDBank’s advanced security and smart statement methods improve business’s financial management while minimizing risk.

There will also be loans at preferential interest rates, with no collateral, to ease merchants’ cash flow problems.

HDBank CEO Phạm Quoc Thanh said the partnership is consistent with the way the State Bank of Vietnam wants to add more cashless payments. He said it would also support distributors and retailers in remote areas, where there’s a lack of access to banking tools.

“By leveraging HDBank and Unilever Vietnam’s advantages in terms of geographical location, technology application and new customer approach, the partnership will help both sides to cover many different markets.”

See also: Egyptian B2B eCommerce Startup Cartona Partners With Unilever

Unilever also partnered with Cartona, the Egyptian retail tech firm, earlier this year, PYMNTS wrote. The goal there was to connect with the market’s base of retailers, suppliers and distributors.

Unilever will get access to the digital network of over 60,000 retailers in that region, while Cartona will offer more Unilever products.

Cartona’s goal is to digitize Egypt’s trade system, which is still mostly working offline.