Vietnam To Privatize BIDV Bank In 2009

State-run Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam, or BIDV, will be privatized within 2009, the government said Monday in a statement.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has approved Dec. 31 as the bank's valuation date, the government said.
BIDV currently has registered capital of VND7.49 trillion ($440 million), according to the State Bank of Vietnam's Web site. (Dow Jones)

EAB to launch SMS Banking for credit card customers

Eastern Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (DongA Bank - EAB) recently announced that from December 29 it would launch SMS Banking services and internet Banking for credit card. This solution will bring a sense of security to credit account users.
Thanks to these services, credit card owners can check their accounts via mobile phones. At the same time, they can check transactions and funds transfer and other banking services.

SCB increases deposit rates strongly

From June 23, the dong deposit rates at Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) were increased strongly, especially as for terms of from one week.

In particular, deposits with from one to three week terms will carry the yearly interest rate of 17.4-17.8%, one to three-month terms at 18.1-18.3%, three-nine-month terms at 18.5% and 370 day term 18.8%. The demand interest rates were also increased to 9% per year and from three-six day terms were ranged between 14-14.6% per year.

Also from June 23, customers with the balance worth from 20 million dong as for individuals and 50 million dong as for institutions will be allowed to joined "overnight investment" product with the interest rate of 13% per year.

On the same day, SCB announced that it increased prize-based bills of exchange rates to 18.8% per annum with from 30-day term and introduced "savings with principal interest rates" product with the interest rate of 17.4% per year. Each redeposit will plus by 0.2-18.4% per year of interest rates.

VPBank Raises Deposit Rate to 18.8%

Monday, June 23, 2008
Viet Nam Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Private Enterprises, known as VPBank, has raised the rate on deposits held for six months to 18.8%, the Dau Tu newspaper reported.

The State Bank of Viet Nam this month raised its benchmark interest rate to 14% from 12% to cool inflation.

Banks afraid to declare profit

Friday, June 20, 2008
A lot of banks are refusing to declare their monthly business results as the happenings of the monetary market have been badly affecting their operations.

Last year, when the national economy performed well, and helped banks reap fat profit, banks regularly made their business public. However, the situation seems to be quite different this year. Though banks still made profit in the first months of the year, their operations were not as prosperous as last year.

The reports released recently by the banks do not contain inflation about pre-tax profit. The reports only emphasise their good liquidity and satisfactory capital mobilisation.

Techcombank announced it obtained satisfactory business results in the first five months of the year. The bank’s total assets by the end of May had reached nearly VND49tril, an increase of VND9tril over the beginning of the year, while its mobilised capital had reached VND42,287bil, up by 21%. Also according to Techcombank’s report, the good capital mobilisation helped the bank maintain high liquidity. However, the bank did not declare the pre-tax profit for the first five months of the year.

The deputy director of a joint stock bank said that it seems that banks are hesitating to declare profit at this moment, both the ones who made profit and the ones who did not.

Explaining this, he said that the banks that made fat profit do not want to reveal their profit at this ‘sensitive moment’, when businesses have to bear very high interest rates. Therefore, the main message banks want to send to the public is that they still are maintaining high liquidity.

People may find it easier to find out information about ACB and Sacombank, the two banks listing on the bourse, since releasing financial reports is a must for listed companies.

Sacombank reaped VND640bil worth of pre-tax profit in the first five months of the year, and the bank expects to obtain VND2tril worth of pre-tax profit this year.

ACB has also reported satisfactory business results for the first five months of the year with VND612bil worth of pre-tax profit. Especially, ACB earned a lot of income from its gold trading floor, which brought about VND1bil a day to the bank.

Eximbank said that though conditions are not favourable, Eximbank still got satisfactory results thanks to its advantages in providing services to import-export companies and trading foreign currencies. The bank hopes to get VND1,200-1,500bil worth of pre-tax profit, nearly double that of last year.

In general, big banks still are maintaining good business results, while small banks are witnessing profit decrease. The representative of a bank in HCM City said that the pre-tax profit of the bank in May decreased by over VND50bil from the previous month.

Banking experts say that the current difficulties may last until the end of the year. However, after that, the banks that have overcome the difficulties will enter a new period of prosperity. (DTCK)

NamA Bank raises dong deposit rates

Friday, June 20, 2008
From June 17, Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NamA Bank) officially increased the dong deposit rates to the highest level of 18.36% per year to assure the competitiveness amongst banks.

Particularly, 1-3 week term deposits will get the interest rates of 17.04-17.28% per year, 1-3 month terms 17.88%, 4-12-month terms 17.76% and 13-36-month terms 17.64%.

Notably, from one to three-month terms, the interest rate of 18.36% per year will be applied on deposits worth over five billion dong, 18.24% for deposits worth 1-5 billion dong, 18.12% for from 500 million to one billion dong, 18.00% from 100-500 million dong and 17.88% for deposits worth below 100 million dong.

According to the bank, customers with week deposits will not be allowed to withdraw the principal before due. Deposits with from one-month terms will be allowed to withdraw the principal before due but they have to let the bank know earlier one day.

An Binh Bank goes live with Temenos T24 model bank

Friday, June 20, 2008
Temenos Group, the provider of integrated core banking systems, today announced that An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBANK), one of Vietnam's largest joint-stock banks by chartered capital, has become the seventh client in the country to go live with TEMENOS T24 (T24). T24 now provides the bank with centralised core banking across its retail and corporate banking operations in 57 branches and is helping the bank to launch a range of new delivery channels including ATM and internet banking.

ABBANK implemented T24 Model Bank, which includes pre-configured products and processes for banking best practice, in order to reduce its implementation time and costs, minimise customisation and lower project risk. This is a Universal Model Bank implementation built on the Vietnamese Model Bank country platform for both retail and corporate operations. Temenos developed the Vietnamese Model Bank over eight months in order to combine T24 functionality with all State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) related requirements as well as meeting all the banking practices in Vietnam. ABBANK is the first local bank project that uses the Vietnamese Model Bank. T24 was deployed jointly by the bank, a local Temenos Professional Services team and other specialist partners over an 11-month period.

Nguyen Hung Manh, vice Chair of ABBANK says: "Because T24 Model Bank is a proven technology, we have been able to benefit from a fast, low-risk implementation. We are now ready with a banking platform that will support the bank as it launches new delivery channels to help us achieve rapid business growth over the next two-years."

T24 will support the bank's plans to increase its customer base from 55,000 accounts to two million by 2010. T24's flexibility and scalability will also help expand its branch network to 200 locations across the country. This exponential growth could not be achieved with the bank's previous system.

During the evaluation period, ABBANK considered several vendors before signing the deal with Temenos in December 2006. The implementation project was initiated in February 2007 and went live on 9 January 2008. Temenos installed T24 core functionality, including comprehensive retail and corporate banking capabilities. The system runs on IBM AIX. T24 replaced GoldRiver, the bank's legacy system.

Andreas Andreades, CEO, Temenos, comments: "The joint deployment with ABBANK is especially important as it demonstrates the quality of our implementation skills combined with our strong local knowledge. As our seventh go live in Vietnam, this project also further confirms our commitment to the Vietnamese market, which we support through our local staff and offices as well as our deep understanding of best-practice banking procedures inherent in Vietnam Model Bank. ABBANK Bank is fast becoming a large retail bank and we are happy to support them in their growth plans. With our increasing focus on retail banking we are now able to offer immense flexibility and richness of functionality combined with a superior cost of ownership. Our fully upgradeable packaged core banking system is highly beneficial for banks that previously had to rely on bespoke and heavily customised solutions."

TEMENOS T24 is a functionally rich, scalable, and proven integrated banking system. It is delivered as a pre-configured Model Bank solution that incorporates industry best-practice, enabling fast and predictable implementations and immediate, measurable benefits. Temenos' Model Bank approach allows a fast ROI and a highly flexible and responsive approach to banking ensuring maximum business agility based on T24's flexible features. T24 offers integrated and comprehensive information on the institution at all times including a single customer view, and a single view of the enterprise including risk and profitability.

T24 incorporates modern technology including a comprehensive Service Orientated Architecture (SOA), fully enabled for standard, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) web services, and BPEL process execution and compliant with industry leading ESBs (Enterprise Service Buses). T24 can be deployed on fully scalable, multi-server n-tier architecture. It provides a full front-to-back solution from electronic delivery channels such as mobile devices and internet banking right through to settlement, general ledger and other back office functions all in a fully integrated, reliable and cost effective environment. Temenos' total commitment to open standards enables its customers to benefit from the latest advances in technology ensuring business agility, continuity, data integrity and reduced downtime delivering a significant, immediate and ongoing return on investment.

About ABBANK

An Binh Joint-Stock Bank (ABBANK), is one of the leading joint-stock banks of Vietnam and one of the ten banks with the largest registered capital of Vietnam. After 13 years of growth and development since establishment in 1993, ABBANK has made great advances in its business performances and results in the last 3 years, marked by significant milestones such as: Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) became a strategic shareholder of ABBANK with 30% of shareholdings in 2006, ABBANK and An Binh Securities (ABS) has successfully issued dong 2000 billion bond for EVN in 2006, EVN bond issued by ABBANK has been selected by Asia Money 1.2007 as the best local currency bond of Asia in 2006.

Currently ABBANK has a network of 53 branches and transactional offices in 20 provinces of Vietnam, serving 5,000 business clients and 50,000 individual customers. More information about ABBANK can be obtained at www.abbank.vn.

About Temenos

Founded in 1993, Temenos Group AG is a provider of integrated modular core banking systems to over 580 financial institutions in 110 countries worldwide. Temenos software provides banks with a single, real-time view of the client across the enterprise, enabling banks to maximise returns while streamlining costs. Whether providing 24/7 functionality to the wholesale, retail and private or universal banking sectors, partnering with central banks on core system replacement, or working with the World Bank on solutions for the emerging markets, Temenos knows banking. The company has a transparent approach to its operations and brings to bear its experience, expertise, commitment and professionalism on every project.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company has 42 offices in 31 countries and is listed on the main segment of the SWX Swiss Exchange (TEMN). www.temenos.com

CONTACT: Max Chuard, Temenos, director Corporate Finance & IR Member of the Executive Board Tel: +41 (0) 22 708 1157 e-mail: mchuard@temenos.com Ben Robinson, Temenos Investor Relations manager Tel: +44 (0)207 290 3012 e-mail: brobinson@temenos.com Peter McKenna, Temenos Marketing director Tel: +44 (0)207 423 3842 e-mail: pmckenna@temenos.com Sole Chirco/Alisha Benson, Team 660 Metia for Temenos Tel: +44 (0)203 100 3718 Tel: +44 (0)203 100 3739 e-mail: sole.chirco@metia.com e-mail: alisha.benson@metia.com

M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com.

Moody's praises Techcombank

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The global well-known credit rating agency Moody's on June 4 released the latest report in which Techcombank still was highly appreciated in terms of domestic financial strength, especially the ability to maintain a good transparency in the difficult context at present.

This was shown clearly by the bank's ratio of lending and total capital in dong being kept at 82%-the safest level in Vietnam's banking system at this time, which could be reduced to 80% within this week.

The ratio for US dollar stood at 77%, showing that Techcombank could maintain transparency in line with the balance direction for both US dollar and the dong.

Also, Moody's praised Techcombank's capacity of limiting bad debt ratio that was estimated at 2.4%. (DTCK)

PG Bank launches saving product with flexible principal withdrawal

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Petrolimex Gasoline Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PG Bank) recently launched the saving product with flexible principal withdrawal for short-term deposits of individual customers.

Particularly, deposits worth less than 100 million dong will get the yearly interest rate of 10%, 100-500 million dong at 10.5%, 500 million dong to below one billion dong at 11.2%, 1-2 billion dong at 11.5% and over 2 billion dong at 12.3%.

Customers can keep close track of the balance and manage their capital source via the bank's service E-Banking.

The PG Bank's dong deposit rate being applied from June 3 is 15.3% per year and 7.5% per annum as for US dollar.

Banks get ultimatum

Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The State Bank has warned commercial banks which set mobilisation interest rates “too high” could be punished. Early last week, after the State Bank released new regulations on interest rate management which allowed commercial banks to set mobilisation and lending interest rates not exceeding 150% of the State Bank’s 12% base rate, some banks raised interest rates to the 18% limit. In response, the State Bank sent warning documents to the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) and Nam Viet Joint Stock bank (Navibank) asking the banks to lower their rates.

According to a State Bank official, if the mobilisation interest rate is set at 18% per year the lending rate should be around 22% to be profitable to a lender. “Thus, setting rates at 18% per year could imply that the bank is in a serious capital shortage or it would have to lend at rates higher than 18% limit,” said the official.

So far, Agribank and Navibank have reduced mobilisation rates to common levels with other peers. At the same time, almost all banks are setting mobilisation rates at around 14-15 per cent. The Southeast Asia Joint Stock Bank (SEA Bank) has offered the highest rate so far at 15.6% per year for 14-month deposits.

Last week, the State Bank also released Official Letters 4426 and 4428/NHNN-VP requesting the State Bank’s branches to strengthen its supervision of commercial banks’ mobilisation and lending services. “Any violation regarding mobilisation and lending at interest rates over 150% of the base rate should be punished and reported to the State Bank. The credit institution that violated the regulation should be investigated accordingly,” the documents stated. (Dau Tu)

Sacombank and ANZ to launch card alliance

Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Saigon Thuong Tin Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Sacombank) is completing last proceedings with Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ), Sacombank's strategic partner, to debut their card alliance.

The group expected to receive the license to set up the card alliance with the total initial capital of US$20 million within this quarter. As the plan, Sacombank Group will hold 60% of capital and the remaining 40% belonging to ANZ.

According to Dang Van Thanh, Sacombank Group's chair, the alliance will apply absolutely secure management mode for card system through the network. Thanh added the alliance would create strength position for the group in issuing and expanding the market share of cards.

Up to the end of April, Sacombank has had 315 ATM machines through the network. The bank has also launched 2,000 POS in most of trade centres, restaurants and hotels.

VIB Bank forecasts profit rise, plans '08 listing

Friday, May 23, 2008
Viet Nam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB Bank), the country's eighth-largest lender, projected on Friday that its gross profit would jump 65% this year to 700 billion dong.

The Hanoi-based bank said in a statement it would issue new shares to raise its registered capital by 50% to 3 trillion dong, sell part of the issue to foreign investors and consider listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange this year.

The stock market has fallen 54% this year, closing down 1.54% at 428.05 points on Friday. The bearish trend has made many listed firms reluctant to go ahead with their new share issues planned this year.

VIB, worth $180 million based on its $0.9 share price it trades at on the unofficial, unregulated market, has also projected raising its assets by 32% to 52 trillion dong by the year-end.

All the targets have been approved by shareholders on Wednesday, the statement said. It did not name foreign candidates who would buy VIB shares.

Vietnam's central bank plans to keep the country's credit growth at 30% this year after loans jumped 54% last year. The economy expanded 8.5%.

VIB said its audited net profit more than doubled to 306.5 billion dong last year and total assets also soared to 39.32 trillion dong from 16.6 trillion dong in the previous year.

VIB's plan to sell a stake to foreign investors follows eight other partly private banks, half of them have each sold a 15% stake to a foreign bank in the past several years. The four others sold 10% each.

The government caps foreign ownership in a domestic bank at 30% and limits strategic investor ownership to 15%.

Now only Ho Chi Minh City-based Sacombank and Asia Commercial Bank among Viet Nam's 36 partly private banks have shares traded on the country's stock markets.

VIB was founded in early 1996 by a number of institutions, including state-run Agribank and Vietcombank, as well as private businessmen. Vietcombank, the country's third-largest lender, owns 2.45% of VIB.

Foreign strategic investors still bullish on local banks

Friday, May 23, 2008
Overseas financial institutions are increasing their stakes in domestic commercial banks even as shares in these banks have underperformed, following the overall downward trend of the nation’s stock market.

Earlier this year, London-based Standard Chartered increased its stake in Asia Commercial Bank to the 15-per-cent maximum that a foreign strategic investor is allowed by law to hold. Meanwhile, Singapore’s OCBC is obtaining regulatory approval for its acquisition of 15% of Viet Nam’s VPBank.

Most recently, the State Bank of Viet Nam granted special approval to Eximbank to sell 25 per cent of its shares to four foreign strategic investors, including Japan-based Sumimoto Bank.

"Not counting the credit problem which your domestic banks are facing, the banking sector in Viet Nam has many opportunities to develop more strongly in the future," said John Nolan, an analyst with a HCM City fund management board.

Foreign investors can see this potential more clearly than local stock traders, Nolan said, because they are experienced in other stock markets.

They were attracted by the good business performance of domestic banks even as banking stocks have been declining.

"During the first quarter of this year, business performance of domestic banks was quite good, and these are the factors on which foreign institutions base decisions to pour money in," Nolan said.

Sacombank in the first quarter of this year posted a profit of VND435 billion (US$27.18 million), a year-on-year increase of 44 per cent. VPBank in the same period earned VND105 billion in profits.

"Compared with previous years, these profit figures are lower. But, at a time when inflation is high and credit growth slowing, these profits sounded fine," Nolan said.

"The investment of four financial institutions in Eximbank is an example. It’s clear that those partners have seen the financial capacity of Eximbank," he added.

Now, domestic commercial banks were entering another potential, highly-publicised interest rate war, giving them an opportunity to draw even more attention from foreign institutions.

Independent analyst Nguyen Tien Dung said, "In competition, the banks with strong financial power will survive and thrive, while the others will go bankrupt or be acquired by larger banks."

This would lead to even higher quality commercial banks in the future, Dung said, as well as better prices for banking stocks. (VNS)

Card payment system connection makes debut

Friday, May 23, 2008
Customers of Viet Nam’s five major banks can now withdraw money from other banks ATMs, thanks to the connection of Viet Nam ’s two largest ATM card payment systems. The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) on May 23 officially launched the connection of Banknetvn and Smartlink to promote cross-bank ATM transactions.

Previously restricted to withdrawing money from their own bank’s specialised ATM, now customers can withdraw money from any of the five participating bank’s ATM’s - the Bank for Foreign Trade (Vietcombank), the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), the Bank for Investment and Development (BIDV), the Industrial and Commercial Bank (Vietinbank) and Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank).

According to SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Toan Thang, the connection of the two ATM card alliances, which hold 80% of the country’s card market share, is the premise for a nationally connected card system in the future.

By March 2008, the five above banks’ total ATMs numbered over 3,600, accounting for 64% of ATMs in the Vietnamese market. Their total number of issued cards was 8.6 million, making up 80% of the local market’s cards.

Banknetvn and Smartlink plan to cooperate in connecting with remaining member banks by the third quarter of this year.

At that time, the two card alliances will have more than 4,500 ATMs, accounting for about 80 percent of the domestic market.

SBV’s Payment Department Head Bui Quang Tien says Vietnam issued over 10 million payment cards by the first quarter of 2008.

He said the country strives to have 15 million issued cards and the rate of cash payments below 18 percent by 2010.

The respective figures will be 30 million cards and under 15% ten years later. (VNA)

Techcombank and HSBC complete ATM co-operation deal

Friday, May 23, 2008
Viet Nam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank), Viet Nam’s third largest joint stock commercial bank by equity, and its strategic partner HSBC, one of Viet Nam’s leading foreign banks, have successfully linked their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) networks together to bring greater convenience to retail banking customers.

Currently, Techcombank has 260 ATMs around the country and HSBC has 57. By the end of 2008, the total number of machines in the shared network is expected to reach over 450. Over the coming three years, HSBC plans to invest approximately US$28.55 million to expand its self-service banking facilities in Viet Nam, including multifunctional ATMs that can take cash deposits.

The ATM linkage also aligns with the two banks’ strategy for retail banking development. With the ATM linkage, customers of both Techcombank and HSBC in Viet Nam who hold credit cards, deposit and current accounts will be able to withdraw cash and check their bank balances and latest transactions at either banks’ ATMs with ease. In addition, customers will be able to carry out these transactions absolutely free of charge.

Techcombank, long acknowledged as one of the most dynamic banks in Viet Nam’s retail banking market, has developed value-added products and services to serve individual customers, including its new credit card launched in March 2008.

Mr Nguyen Duc Vinh, President and CEO of Techcombank, said, “As one of the fastest growing banks in the country, we are glad to reach such an agreement with our strategic partner HSBC, which aligns perfectly with Techcombank’s retail banking strategy as well as our vision and mission for the development of the financial market in Vietnam. This ATM linkage agreement validates our efforts in expanding our ATM network, not only with domestic but also international ATM card alliances. We believe that this agreement with a major international bank such as HSBC is the first of many to come that will provide added convenience and accessibility to our customers in the banking sector."

Following the launch of credit cards by HSBC in March 2008, the shared ATM network demonstrates HSBC’s commitment to expanding within Viet Nam’s retail banking sector. The move is especially important to HSBC as it was the first bank to introduce ATMs in Viet Nam in 1996.

“The joint ATM network, a first for HSBC in Viet Nam, is the latest in a progressive series of developments that we have made to ramp up our personal financial services. We see ATMs as a core aspect of our retail banking services and we believe such a network will become an increasingly important component of our distribution channel as we reach out to a broader base of customers,” said Thomas Tobin, President and CEO of HSBC in Viet Nam. (The Asian Banker)

Foreign banks buying up foothold in Viet Nam

Friday, May 23, 2008
Foreign banks are gaining a strong foothold in the Vietnamese market by buying up domestic bank shares at a time when prices are at an all-time low.

Many foreign banks with contracts to purchase local bank shares are using the opportunity to increase their stakes to 15%, a level capped by the government.

The OCBC Group, one of leading financial institutions of Singapore, and the Viet Nam Private Bank (VP Bank) on May 14 finalised a proposal to obtain permission from the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)’s to raise OCBC’s stake in VP Bank to 15%.

The two sides agreed on a price 4.5 times higher than the nominal value (45,000 VND per share) despite the fact the price of shares, including the banks’ shares, are on a downward slide.

According to VP Bank General Director Le Dac Son, the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of May.

The UK ’s Standard Chartered Bank, a strategic partner of the Asian Commercial Bank (ACB), also bought ACB shares from the International Finance Company to increase its investment to 15% of shares and 15.86% of convertible bonds.

In March, Malaysia ’s Maybank inked a strategic cooperation agreement with the An Binh Joint Stock Bank (ABBank) and bought 15 percent of the ABBank’s charter capital (close to 2.14 trillion VND) at a price five times higher than the nominal value of the bank’s shares.

The Hong Kong-Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) also increase its property at its strategic partner Viet Nam Technological and Commercial Bank (Techcombank) from 10% to 15%, or 539 billion VND.

Meanwhile, the Oriental Commercial Bank (OCB) and the Southern Bank have announced that their partners, France ’s BNP Paribas and Singapore ’s UOB, intend to raise their ownership stakes to 15%.

The moves illustrates foreign financial groups’ increasing interest in Vietnam as they eye its potential for business expansion.

In 2007, foreign-invested credit organisations in Viet Nam own 215 trillion VND.

According to the central bank, 37 branches and 53 representatives offices of foreign and joint-venture banks are operating in Viet Nam. (VNA)

Military Bank to hike chartered capital to 3.4tr dong

Friday, May 23, 2008
Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB) recently announced the plan to scale up its chartered capital to 3.4 trillion dong within this year.

The bank's shareholders' meeting held on May 19 passed this year's growth targets with 735 billion dong from pre tax profit, up 21% on 2007, its total asset would increase by 52%, total deposits and total outstanding loan 34% each, the overdue debt rate at 2%, the ensured debt rate accounting for 78% and the medium and long-term debt rate accounting for 38% of total outstanding loans.

The bank's plan of increasing chartered capital will be broken into four phases. Accordingly, in the first phase MB would increase 363.76 billion dong through paying dividend to shareholders at the ratio of 30% in shares on June 2.

In the second phase, MB would raise 316.24 billion dong in the fourth quarter of 2008 via paying bonus shares to shareholders and the bank's employees. The third and the fourth phases will be carried out in December. Of which, the third phase will hike 220 billion dong by transferring 2006 bonds to shares and the fourth phase will increase 500 billion dong by selling shares to domestic and foreign strategic shareholders and potential shareholders with the negotiation price.

MB also plans to pay 7% dividend in cash in advance for the first phase of 2008 on May 26. the time to close the list of shareholders book to is on May 23

Commercial Banks rush to lift interest rates

Thursday, May 22, 2008
Commercial banks pushed up deposit interest rates on May 21, to above 15% per annum just two days after the State Bank of Viet Nam announced new interest rate regulations based on the newly imposed 12% basic interest rate.

Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) said as from of May 21, its depositors will enjoy a 14.5% interest rate for 1-2 month terms, 15% for the 4-13 month terms and 13.5% for 24-36 month terms.

Southeast Asian Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank) meanwhile raised their annual deposit interest rate for a 14 month term to 15.6%, the highest deposit rate so far among commercial banks.

Six to nine month terms at the bank now have an interest rate of 15.36% and under six month deposits will get 15%.

Two days before, An Binh Bank (ABBank) offered a peak annual interest rate of 14.4% for deposits of more than 13 months, while Dai Duong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OceanBank) increased its annual interest rate for 12-13 month deposits to the maximum 15%.

Oriental Commercial Bank (OCB), Viet Nam Commercial Bank for Private Enterprises (VP Bank) and Nam Viet Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Navibank) have also lifted their deposit interest rates to the 15% limit.

Banking analysts predicted the common deposit interest rate will range between 13.5-15%, depending on short or long term strategies of local banks. They said a new wave of interest rate increases was possible, but a prolonged race like earlier this year was unlikely.

According to the central bank’s regulations, deposit interest rates offered by local commercial banks are not permitted to exceed 150% of the basic interest rate.

Military Bank to boost charter capital

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Military Bank to boost charter capitalMilitary Commercial Joint Stock Bank’s shareholder meeting on May 20 resulted in a decision to raise the bank’s charter capital to 3.4 trillion VND (212.5 million USD).

The bank will also increase total assets to 46.5 trillion VND (2.9 billion USD), 1.5 times higher than last year.

The charter capital increase will be carried out in four phases.

Eximbank increases deposit rates

Thursday, May 22, 2008
From May 20, Viet Nam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank) officially applied the new interest rates of dong, US dollar and gold. In comparison with the previous benchmark the new interest rates were raised by 0.225% per month in dong, 1.3% per year in US dollar and 1.5% per annum in gold.

Particularly, the interest rates of dong are ranged between 1.167% and 1.183% per month. Accordingly, 1, 2, 3 and 6 month terms will get the interest rate of 1.167% per month, nine and 12 months 1.183% per month.

As for US dollar deposits, the interest rates are ranged between 6.5% and 7% per year. In particular, the interest rate for one-month term is 6.5% per year, two months 6.6%, three months 6.8% and 6, 9 and 12 months 7% per year.

Also, the interest rate of gold was increased to 3.5%-5.5%. The interest rate difference between terms is by 0.5% per year.

In addition, the bank still applies the progressive interest rates for savings worth at least 100 million dong, US$5,000 and 10 ounces of gold and higher, marking the highest level of the bank so far.

Ending four first months of this year, the bank gained 347 billion dong from pre tax profit, 38.791 trillion dong in total asset, 26.150 trillion dong in total deposits and 21.953 trillion dong in total outstanding loans.

As the plan, Eximbank could reach between 1.3 and 1.5 trillion dong in profit within this year, nearly twofold increase against 2007.

Eximbank's shareholders' meeting recently also passed the plan to hike its chartered capital to 7.38 trillion dong from the current of 2.8 trillion dong within this year.