For decades, Agribank has maintained close ties with agriculture, farmers and rural areas by providing financial resources for production, business and everyday needs. Alongside the rapid development of the digital economy, this role is being carried forward in increasingly comprehensive ways. Agribank not only continues to provide credit to agriculture, farmers and rural areas, but is also gradually expanding modern financial services, new payment methods and digital banking features to better meet people’s increasingly diverse needs. The combination of technology platforms and an extensive service network is creating new ways of connecting with customers, helping broaden access to finance and support the development of the rural economy.

Agriculture, farmers and rural areas have always been central to Agribank’s operational orientation and development. In earlier periods, one of the key requirements was to bring formal credit to people, especially in areas far from major centres. As socio-economic activities increasingly operate on digital platforms, financial needs in rural areas have also become more diverse. In addition to financing for production and business, people increasingly need convenient access to account services, payments, money transfers, savings and other modern banking services.

As of the end of July 2026, Agribank’s outstanding loans to the economy had exceeded VND 2 quadrillion, of which more than VND 1.32 quadrillion was invested in agriculture, farmers and rural areas, equivalent to 64.9% of total outstanding loans. This proportion shows that agriculture, farmers and rural areas continue to hold a key position in Agribank’s credit portfolio, while also reflecting the Bank’s consistent orientation towards prioritising resources for a sector closely associated with its mission and traditional strengths.

The characteristics of rural lending place specific requirements on service delivery. Customers are geographically dispersed, production scales vary, and financing needs are often seasonal, while transport conditions and access to financial services differ from one locality to another. The effectiveness of these capital flows is therefore reflected not only in lending volumes, but also in the ability to deliver resources to the right beneficiaries, at the right time and in an appropriate manner.

In this process, the Loan Group model continues to serve as a channel connecting Agribank with customers at the grassroots level. As of 31 July 2026, the Agribank system had more than 58,000 Loan Groups with over 910,000 members and total outstanding loans exceeding VND 216 trillion. Through this network, people’s borrowing needs can be identified more closely in line with actual conditions, credit policies can be communicated more effectively, and coordination between the Bank, associations, local authorities and communities can be strengthened.

Beyond serving as a channel for delivering credit, Loan Groups also help maintain regular links between the Bank and production activities in villages and communes. Building on this connectivity, digital transformation continues to broaden the ways in which Agribank serves customers, enabling them to take a more proactive role in accessing and using banking services.

Having remained closely connected with agriculture, farmers and rural areas for nearly four decades, Agribank is continuing to expand its role in the digital economy. From providing credit to developing modern financial services, this transformation is helping improve people’s access to and use of banking services, thereby creating further conditions for rural areas to adapt to increasingly modern methods of production, business and transactions.

Kylie Nguyen