A record Vietnamese syndication and a Singapore shipyard deal show what the bank can do
Cathay United Bank had a strong 2025 — and its deal record shows why it’s worth watching.
Its Ho Chi Minh City branch led Vietnam’s loan bookrunner rankings, closing $617 million in credits and taking part in more than half of the country’s syndicated loan transactions for the year. The headline deal was a $1.56 billion green loan for VPBank — the largest ESG loan ever arranged for a bank borrower in Asia Pacific, the biggest syndicated loan in Vietnamese banking history, and the most widely distributed, pulling in 44 international lenders. A separate $230 million facility for Techcom Securities rounded out a remarkable year. Both deals picked up awards at The Asset Triple A Sustainable Finance Awards 2026.
Elsewhere, CUB put together a $147 million long-tenor guarantee for Singapore’s Marco Polo Shipyard, financing the construction of a specialised oceanographic research vessel for Taiwan’s National Academy of Marine Research. It’s the kind of deal — long construction timeline, precise technical requirements, cross-border structure — that most lenders would walk away from.
The bank now has 67 locations across 11 markets, with a particularly solid presence in Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
Its priorities going forward: structured finance, project finance, and bespoke cross-border lending — areas where knowing the market deeply counts for more than simply having a large balance sheet.