Banks take different paths to survival

April 10, 2012 | 10:17
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Banks have adopted diverse tactics to keep their heads above water amid a flood of economic difficulties.

Dong A Bank’s 2012 annual shareholder meeting took place last month and envisaged a plan to sell VND900 billion ($42.8 million) stake of its commitment to hike chartered capital to VND6 trillion ($285.7 million). But it could be delayed to avoid hurting shareholders since bank shares in the over the counter market (OTC) sunk to lower than the face value of VND10,000 per share.

“Dong A Bank will list on the stock market after finding a suitable strategic partner. The board will be in charge of handling and monitoring the process of finding the strategic partner matching the bank’s development vision, strategy and culture,” according to a bank statement.

Southern Bank was just told by the State Bank to confirm its commitment to offload shares within one year after finishing its initial public offering (IPO) when it sought to hike chartered capital from over VND3.212 trillion ($153 million) to VND4 trillion ($190.4 million).

Unlike Dong A Bank, Southern Bank has founded foreign strategic partner Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) which has a 20 per cent stake.

“Our bank may make its debut in the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange this year and further evolve capitalised on our own strength. We surely will not team up with any other units in the banking sector,” said Nam A Bank chairwoman Nguyen Thi Xuan Loan.

“Nam A Bank remained steadfast and did not experience a liquidity drought in 2011 which was a challenging year for the business community. We will stay outside current vibrant trend for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and consolidations in local banking sector,” Loan confirmed.

At this point of time Vietnam’s two major stock exchanges accommodates nine banking entities, namely VCB, CTG, EIB, ACB, STB, SHB, MB, HBB and NVB, of which six have partnered with foreign players.  Industry experts view M&A as the right move for banks to fortify themselves.

 

By Thuy Vinh

vir.com.vn

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