More banks to be founded

VNGOP – The State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) just decided to license the establishment of three foreign bank branches and agreed on principle to permit the foundation and operation of five joint-stock banks.

January 10, 2008 7:14 AM GMT+7

Illustration photo

Three foreign banks allowed to found their branches in Việt Nam are: Taipei Fubon (China Taiwan), Industrial Bank of Korea (Republic of Korea) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Australia).

Five domestic joint-stock banks to be founded include Energy, Asian Commerce, Vietnamese Star, Indochina Commercial Credit, and Bảo Tín.

Together with four recently-licensed banks (Bảo Việt, Petroluem, FPT and Liên Việt), the number of joint-stock banks to be founded now reaches 9.

According to SBV, most of the domestic banks have planned to raise their charter capital and many are about to obtain the stipulated capital for 2010. The banking sector’s debt balance of securities loans was 1.37% to the end of 2007 and bad debt 0.06%.

In 2008, SBV will continue to restructure the system of credit organizations, boost technological development and cash payment, and promote retail banking services. SBV also completes the bills on Credit Organizations, on State Bank, on Supervision over Safety of Banking Performance, and on Deposits Insurance.

By Phương Uyên