Vietnam tightens control over state-bank partnership

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has put more restriction on strategic investors in state banks being privatized, the central bank said in a circular released late on Tuesday.

Specifically, foreign investors seeking to buy 15% or more of a Vietnamese state-owned bank must have total assets of at least $20 billion in the year before they buy a stake ; over 5 years experience in global market, and pledge to maintain operations even when domestic economic conditions turn out unfavourable.

“The government wants to protect state assets because state-run banks have huge assets, many of which are not profitable now,” a Vietnamese analyst was quoted by Reuters.

Meanwhile, domestic investors seeking to sign strategic partnership agreement with state-owned banks were required to have minimum total assets of VND3trillion in the year before they buy a stake; ROE above 15% and ROA above 1% one year before the deal.

Especially, local lenders must meet additional requirements including ensure Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of above 10% and capping bad debts at 2% in the year before the deal. – Stoxplus.com

Tags: Vietnam banking industry, Vietnam finance, Vietnam financial

Posted by VBN on Apr 28 2011. Filed under Banking-Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry