Vietnamese bank applies for bourse listing

The Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Sacombank) has become the first bank in Vietnam to submit an application for listing to the country's State Securities Commission, local media reported Friday.

The Sacombank will be licensed to list on the local stock market late this year, when it become the largest joint stock commercial bank in the country, Vietnam News newspaper quoted the commission's officials.

The Sacombank's chartered capital currently stands at 1.9 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (nearly 119.5 million U.S. dollars). By issuing shares on the bourse, it expects to raise its capital by 300 billion VND (roughly 18.9 million U.S. dollars).

Following the Sacombank, other joint stock commercial banks are also planning to list on the stock market in the near future. Investors are snatching up shares of joint stock commercial banks on the over-the-counter (OTC) market, driving up share values and putting some banks' shares in particular demand.

Prices of some banks' shares are now 4-5 times higher than their original denominations, including those of the Sacombank, the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), the Eastern Asia Bank and the Techcombank, the newspaper said.

Several major foreign financial institutions, including the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC), the ANZ Bank, the Standard Chartered Bank and the Holdings Financial Funds have acquired shares in joint stock commercial banks in Vietnam.

Now, four joint commercial banks in Vietnam having chartered capital of more than 1 trillion VND (nearly 62.9 million dollars) include the Sacombank, the ACB, the Eximbank and the Saigon Industrial and Commercial Bank.

Vietnam security market currently has 35 kinds of listed shares, 348 bonds, mostly government bonds, and one investment fund, with combined face value of more than 50,516 billion VND (nearly 3.18 billion dollars).

Source: Xinhua