BIDV planned an initial public offering in the third quarter of 2007, Deputy General Director Tran Anh Tuan was quoted as saying by the Saigon Giai Phong (Liberation Saigon) newspaper.
He gave no further details of the bond, but said the issue would help BIDV meet international capital adequacy ratio standards.
The Finance Ministry estimates the capital adequacy ratio of Vietnam's state-run banks at 4.4 percent, above the 4-percent minimum level set by the Bank for International Settlements as a global benchmark for those only lending domestically.
BIDV has a registered capital of 3.9 trillion dong ($245 million), the fourth-largest among Vietnam's five state-run commercial banks.
The Saigon Giai Phong newspaper said BIDV had assets of around 132 trillion dong ($8.3 billion) in early 2006, up from $6.6 billion in the end of 2004.
Last year, state-run Vietcombank raised nearly 1.4 trillion dong ($88 million) in an issue of convertible bonds and aimed to list them this month, although industry officials say the listing is more likely to be in March.
The government has allowed Vietcombank to sell 30 percent of its shares to outside investors in several phases this year.
It plans to partially privatise four state-run banks, Vietcombank, BIDV, Incombank and the Mekong Delta Housing Development Bank, by 2010 while the biggest, Agribank, would go public after 2010.
The central bank said the five state-run banks control 68 percent of market lending. ($1=15,894 dong)
Source: Reuters
Feb. 3, 2006