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Vietnamese bank sells additional 5-pct stake to HSBC |
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15:44, July 09, 2007 |
Vietnam's Technological and Commercial Bank (Techcombank) has sold an additional five-percent stake to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), becoming the country's first bank to have its foreign strategic partner holding a maximum stake of 15 percent.
"The five-percent stake is equivalent to 33.7 million U.S. dollars," an official from the Techcombank told Xinhua Monday on condition of anonymity, noting that the London-based HSBC paid 27 million dollars for a 10-percent stake in the Vietnamese bank in 2005.
Under a recent technical assistance deal worth 13.5 million dollars inked by the two banks, a number of HSBC experts are to participate in the Techcombank's management regarding management, marketing, retail sales and card services in the 2007-2011 period, said the official.
Established in 1993 and having total assets of 25 trillion Vietnamese dong (nearly 1.6 billion dollars) and total staff of 2, 000 by the end of May, the Techcombank currently has nearly 200, 000 individual customers and roughly 13,000 corporate ones.
Under a decree issued by the Vietnamese government in April, a single foreign strategic investor can hold up to 15 percent stake in a Vietnamese bank, up from 10 percent previously. The decree leaves open the opportunity for the government to raise the limit to 20 percent on a case by case basis, but it still maintains the total foreign ownership cap at 30 percent.
Under World Trade Organization commitments, beginning on April 1, wholly foreign-owned banks are permitted in Vietnam.
To sharpen competitive edge of local banks, the country is focusing on two major tasks: accelerating the restructure of commercial banks in terms of management and financial capacity, and reforming the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) so that it will become a modern central bank, rather than a state administrative agency as it is currently, SBV deputy governor Phung Khac Ke told Xinhua recently.
Source: Xinhua
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