Women empowerment is a key lever for advancing gender equality and building an inclusive economy. The banking system plays a critical role in this effort, serving both as the employer and the provider of financial capital and services. With a sustainable vision of “putting people and the community at first”, Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank, HOSE: SSB) has pioneered signing and implementing its gender equality commitment, focusing on empowering female employees, while promoting equal growth opportunities and advancing financial inclusion for women customers and women-owned businesses.

*SeABank puts people at the center of development, pioneering Gender Equality promotion.*

Workplace of Equality and Empowerment for Women

SeABank believes that a diverse and equitable workforce is a crucial foundation for fostering creativity and innovation. The Bank implements equality across all aspects of human resource management, from recruitment and career development to compensation and benefits policies.

Accordingly, non-discriminatory recruitment policy is implemented bank-wide, ensuring no bias or discrimination on any factor other than professional competence. The Bank’s human resource, compensation, and performance evaluation policies emphasize transparency and are developed on performance and capability with the consultation of Mercer - Talentnet, ensuring equal opportunities for recognition and career development.

At the same time, SeABank places strong emphasis on maximizing capabilities and encouraging women’s participation in managerial roles. By the end of 2024, the Bank had achieved gender balance across all management levels, with 48% of managerial positions held by women, including 51% of senior executives (Level 1 and above) being female. At the top-tier leadership level, 50% of SeABank’s BOD members are women, ensuring diverse perspectives and effective governance across the organization.

*SeABank focuses on maximizing potential and providing equal career development opportunities.*

Understanding the challenges women often face in the workplace, SeABank has established a flexible and balanced working environment supported by a wide range of policies, notably: marriage and parental leave policies for both male and female employees; maternity support policies (e.g. reduced working hours, dedicated lactation rooms, breast milk storage facilities, etc.); welfare programs for employees with young children; special gifts or support initiatives for employees’ children on special occasions.

In addition, SeABank fosters an open, respectful, and cohesive corporate culture. Employees’ voices are heard through regular surveys, internal communication channels, and a transparent whistleblowing mechanism. Frequent internal engagement programs and volunteer activities also help build consensus across the organization, fostering a workplace culture rooted in respect, equality, and solidarity.

Supporting women customers, promoting inclusive economy

To build an equitable business environment, promote financial inclusion and drive inclusive economic growth, SeABank has expanded its international partnerships and mobilized nearly USD 1.1 billion in funding from IFC, DFC, AIIB, Norfund, FMO, Proparco, and other financial institutions. This enables SeABank to strengthen its financial and technical capacity, leverage international experience, and diversify its portfolio with exclusively tailored financial solutions for women customers.

In October 2020, SeABank’s digital banking application SeAMobile introduced a personalized interface designed exclusively for women. In addition, SeABank launched the SeALady Cashback credit card for female customers, offering up to 2% cashback with special bonuses on birthdays, International Women’s Day (March 8), Vietnamese Women’s Day (October 20), and more. SeALady cardholders also enjoy a variety of exclusive privileges in insurance, healthcare, and beauty services. Notably, for every transaction of VND 1 million or more via SeALady card, SeABank contributes VND 2,000 to the “Bright Future” Cancer Patient Support Fund.

*SeABank provides tailored products, expanding growth opportunities for women customers.*

To enhance women’s economic empowerment, SeABank has partnered with the Vietnam Women’s Union to implement the Women Start-up Project for the 2018–2025 period. Among all, the SeAWomen unsecured consumer loan is an outstanding initiative, offering limits of up to VND 100 million and terms of up to 48 months, with no early repayment fees and simplified procedures. As of the end of 2024, SeAWomen had attracted over 21,000 cumulative customers, with total outstanding loans reaching VND 1,087 billion, up 57% increase year-on-year.

At the same time, the Bank has introduced a range of tailored financial products to support women-owned businesses in accessing larger and flexible capital, including: unsecured overdrafts of up to VND 5 billion; unsecured Visa Corporate credit cards with limits of up to VND 200 million; loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of up to 100% for deposits and 95% for real estate, etc. In addition, SeABank offers preferential lending rates, waivers of early repayment fees for short-term loans, priority service across SeABank branches, and more. These policies help women entrepreneurs access timely and convenient financial support.

Especially, SeABank has established a comprehensive financial and non-financial ecosystem through an exclusive women entrepreneurs club - SeAPower. SeAPower members enjoy access to training and networking activities, digital transformation and sustainability support, along with exclusive privileges in health care and balanced lifestyle enhancement. As of the end of June 2025, the number of women-owned businesses at SeABank increased by 140% year-on-year, total outstanding loans recorded a 115% growth.

*Numerous networking and training events are organized for SeAPower members.*

SeABank’s efforts to advance gender equality have yielded significant results and been recognized by numerous domestic and international organizations, including: Vietnam ESG Awards (Dan Tri Newspaper), Sustainable Business Award (VCCI), Best Place to Work in Vietnam 2024 (VCCI & Anphabe), Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2021–2023 (HR Asia), Most Innovative Bank for Vietnamese Women 2022 (Global Business magazine), Sustainable development at VOBA 2025, and Vietnam Strong Brand 2025. Notably, SeABank was honored in the “Gender Equality in the Marketplace” category at the UN WEPs Awards 2024 (Women’s Empowerment Principles) by UN Women, recognizing the Bank’s outstanding contributions to supporting women-owned enterprises, in line with its pioneering commitment to gender equality.

Gender equality stands as a key pillar in SeABank’s sustainable development strategy, reflecting its role as a responsible bank. Guided by the vision of “putting people and community first”, SeABank continuously creates sustainable values for its female employees and customers, thereby inspiring and expanding opportunities for women across the community, contributing to build a more equitable society, an inclusive financial ecosystem, and a comprehensive economy.