HSBC Bank (Vietnam) Ltd. (HSBC Vietnam) and Dat Bike Vietnam Ltd. (Dat Bike) have signed a strategic agreement to back Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) firms.

HSBC said in a statement on Tuesday that the agreement allows the Vietnam’s international bank to help the electronic motorbike manufacturer digitalize their financial operation, and set up their initial footprint in the overseas financial market, opening up more opportunities to
access foreign investment.

At this initial stage of the cooperation, HSBC Vietnam helps Dat Bike to increase the automation rate by upgrading their accounting system, allowing them to create and approve a bulk of transactions with only one click, saving processing time and transacting more effectively, accurately whilst minimizing human errors.

In order to support the EV startup to approach more opportunities in fundraising rounds, HSBC also offers one consistent platform for Dat Bike to centrally manage treasury, setting the company’s strong foundation to expand to other Southeast Asian markets, starting from Singapore, the biggest investor to Vietnam in 2022 and the first five months of 2023.

According to the statement, the strategic tie between HSBC Vietnam and Dat Bike has materialized the bank’s new economy strategy, where HSBC fuels high potential new economy companies, those businesses that make fundamental shift in the way they produce and distribute, aiming to serve new way of consuming goods and services.

“Vietnam’s new economy is the fastest growing and with highest potential in Southeast Asia,” said Ahmed Yeganeh, Head of Wholesale Banking, HSBC Vietnam.

Given the dramatic changes in Vietnam’s economy, in terms of the way companies are doing business; changing consumer behavior driven by a growing middle class and the increasing internet penetration and higher rate of online shopping, he said the new economy is promising to play a key role in the economic growth.

He said that Dat Bike is a great example of a new economy corporate with their innovative, entrepreneurial mindset and sustainability strategy to bring green vehicles to Vietnam.

“They are also an inspiration for other Vietnamese companies to move forward in sustainability and innovation,

“HSBC shares the same vision in growing and supporting Vietnam to develop sustainably,” he added.

Dat Bike Chief Executive Officer Son Nguyen said that through this partnership, Dat Bike hopes to contribute to HSBC’s “new economy” ecosystem, thereby digitizing business operations and mobilizing additional capital to follow the mission of converting gasoline motorcycles into electric motorcycles in Vietnam and the Southeast Asia.

“The cooperation, in the future, will ignite more opportunities for HSBC not only to support Dat Bike’s operation and fundraising, but also their customers to be able to access advanced EV products more easily and affordably,” he said.

Earlier in June, HSBC has launched innovation banking, which includes the former Silicon Valley Bank UK, with newly formed innovation teams in the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel and Hong Kong, aiming at delivering a globally connected, specialized banking proposition to
support a broad range of innovation businesses and their investors.

The new business concept, in the later stages, will become the premise for supporting new economy businesses around the world, including in Vietnam, to reach high growth, connect foreign investors and access international capital through the bank’s strong network, rich experience, and knowledge in the finance banking industry.

Dat Bike is a Vietnamese electric bike manufacturing company, founded in 2019 by renowned software engineer Nguyen Ba Canh Son.

The firm aims to create 100 percent made-in-Vietnam electric bikes with enough functionality to meet the needs of most users.

Since its establishment, Dat Bike has launched three versions of electric motorbikes, the Weaver, Weaver 200 and Weaver++.

Until the end of 2022, the firm has successfully raised $16.5 million, opened branches in all three regions of Vietnam.

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