Both the Vietnamese and foreign sides put high hopes on the strategic cooperation between them. However, in many cases, the cooperation cannot bring the things they want. Injecting money into Vietnamese banks and becoming strategic partners, foreign investors believe that they can intervene in the business strategies of the banks. However, it’s not easy to do that. Meanwhile, Vietnamese bankers... 

Businesses, economists and bankers all have raised doubts about the application of the fixed interest rate margin set up by the State Bank of Vietnam. The State Bank of Vietnam last week worked out with 14 commercial banks on the measures to slash the lending interest rates and apply the ceiling interest rate margin of 3 percent for four preferential groups of borrowers. This means that the lending... 

As continuity of the success of the event in Hanoi in March, today Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited organised the “New Developments in the International Payment Business” workshop in Ho Chi Minh City. The one-day-workshop will comprehensively introduce the bank’s clients about new developments and trends in this segment globally. It covers various hot topics including customised payment... 

Construction and steel sectors have the most overdue loans in the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the lender said in a seminar last weekend. The bank reported total outstanding loans for corporate clients in key sectors had reached nearly VND271.73 trillion by end-December last year, up 11.7% against 2010. Of this number, overdue loans were mostly taken out by customers in construction... 

The interest rate cap remains, probably until the end of the second quarter this year. This controversial policy tool has once again captured attention because, despite ample liquidity in the banking sector and falling interest rates in the bond, treasury bill and interbank markets, enterprises’ access to capital is still limited. In February 2012, support for the removal of the interest rate... 

The draft plan to merge Hanoi Building Commercial Bank (HBB) into Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Bank (SHB) has received approval from the majority of the two banks’ shareholders as well as the central bank’s green light. However, the deal once concluded will send the bad debt ratio of the merged lender up to nearly 13%. The merger was given the consensus from over 99% of the total number of holders of... 

The lending rate for short-term loans to certain customers is now capped at 15% a year, according to a new circular just issued by the central bank, a move described by industry players to be of little impact on the market. Circular 14/2012/TT-NHNN provides that the lending rate will be calculated by adding three percentage points to the ceiling mobilization rate of deposits of one month and longer.... 

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has many times rejected proposal for charging ATM (automatic teller machine) transaction fees. However, SBV governor Nguyen Van Binh recently has given the green light for the proposal, saying that banks will collect fees on ATM transactions after all ATMs in the country are joined in a common network. Over 40 million ATM cards have been issued nationwide so far,... 

Many banks have announced their first quarter earnings that were higher than in the same period last year even though the economy is still in a bad way. Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) reported VND1.39 trillion in after-tax profit in the first quarter, up 60.4% from the year-ago period. The rise partly resulted from a strong drop in risk provisions from VND1.98 trillion in last year’s... 

Banks are anxious about darkening 2012 profit targets. For example, DaiA Bank reaped VND105 billion ($5 million) pre-tax profits in the first quarter of 2012 against its full-year VND650 billion ($30.9 million) target, according to the bank executive. Similarly, Oriental Commercial Bank (OCB) earned VND100 billion ($4.7 million) in first quarter profits against a VND550 billion ($26.2 million) projection. NamA...