SSI Securities Corporation has signed an agreement for a fresh loan worth US$148 million with a consortium of foreign financial institutions led by Union Bank of Taiwan and Taishin International Bank.

The loan, the largest unsecured foreign loan obtained by a securities company in Viet Nam, has a tenor of no more than 12 months with the reference interest rate being the secured overnight financing rate. It was disbursed at the end of last month.

The money will be used to supplement working capital and fund business activities, enhance the competitiveness of SSI’s securities and retail services, and provide customers with financial services at competitive costs.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, director of SSI’s investment banking, said: "In 2019 SSI became the first securities company to successfully sign an unsecured loan agreement with foreign banks, which has opened up an effective form of supplementing capital at low cost and large scale in the securities industry.”

SSI and Union Bank plan to expand co-operation in providing financial products and services such as guarantees, exchange rates, and derivatives, credit-related market, and sales of equity to foreign partners.

Last year SSI got the largest foreign unsecured loan in the securities industry of up to $267.5 million. It also signed a loan agreement with a local bank for VND10 trillion in February this year.

Last year SSI led the market in terms of margin lending with VND22.7 trillion. — VNS