Trang Chủ
The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has been reportedly finalising its choice of consultative firms for the equitisation of the Bank for Foreign of Viet Nam Trade (Vietcombank) and the Mekong Housing Bank (MHB).
The move will make it easy to conduct the next steps, including property evaluation given that the chosen firms are very professional and have extensive experience in this field, said officials from the Banking Development Strategy Department under the SBV.
Vietcombank itself has its negotiations with several international consultative firms and is finalising business operations review and financial reports.
Vietcombank's managerial board said consultative partners have pledged to submit their plans for the bank's equitisation within six months so that the bank can start issuing shares during the third quarter of 2007.
The Bank of Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) has also announced its detailed plan to hire international financial consultative firms during the first quarter of 2007 and start issuing its shares by the fourth quarter. BIDV will organise the first share-holders' conference soon after launching the first sale of its shares in early 2008 at the latest.
BIDV is the first State-owned commercial bank in Viet Nam to hire an international prestigious firm, the Moody's, for independent credit rating.
Having issued over 3 trillion VND worth of long-term bonds, BIDV became the second bank, after Vietcombank, to achieve international standards on the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR). The bank has also taken firm measures against bad debts, reducing their rate from 19.04 percent in late 2005, to 9.1 percent, in late 2006 meeting international standard.
Nguyen Xuan Nghia, Head of the Banking Development Strategy under the SBV, said the State will continue to hold a controlling stake in State-turned-joint stock banks, and will create favourable conditions for them to continue to develop, increase their competitive edge and continue to play a key role in providing banking services as well as maintaining 70 percent of the market shares.
Source: Vietnam News Agency, 15/01/2007
