FITCH RATES STANDARD CHARTERED BANK VIETNAM “BB” WITH STABLE OUTLOOK

Hanoi, 15 December 2020 - Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam today announced that the Bank has obtained its first-time rating from Fitch at BB and BBB- for its long-term issuer default foreign currency rating and local currency rating respectively. The outlooks on these ratings are stable.

Fitch’s ratings are driven by its expectation of support from the UK-based parent, Standard Chartered PLC, for the Vietnam subsidiary which the Group owns 100%. These ratings are capped by Fitch’s country ceiling of BB for Vietnam and would typically represent the highest possible rating for a bank operating in Vietnam.

According to the global ratings agency, the risk of sovereign restrictions on local-currency repayments is lower than that of foreign-currency restrictions. Hence, Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam 's Long-Term Local-Currency issuer default rating (IDR) is rated above Vietnam’s sovereign rating at BBB- and reflects the parent's robust ability to provide support.

“Vietnam is an important market of Standard Chartered, where we have been present for over 115 years. We have been and continue investing in the country to grow the franchise and better support our clients. Given Vietnam's increasing integration into regional and global supply chains, we believe that we can help the country make a difference by leveraging on our unrivalled local knowledge and international expertise to connect Vietnam with the world and vice versa. The ratings from Fitch have reaffirmed us as a strong partner to Vietnam and to our clients as they seek to meet their growth ambitions.” Said Nirukt Sapru, CEO, Vietnam and ASEAN & South Asia Cluster Markets, Standard Chartered Bank.

Standard Chartered has been investing significantly in Vietnam over the last few years and growing its business across the country. The Bank injected USD100 million (approx. VND2.3 trillion) of Tier-2 capital in the Vietnam’s franchise 2019, following an increase of Tier-1 capital of around USD49 million (approx. VND1.1 trillion) in 2018. The capital injection allows Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam to early implement Basel 2 which the Bank was among the first foreign banks to have completed.