Vietnam

Vietnam International Bank expects its gross profit to jump 76 percent this year to nearly 1.85 trillion dong or $90 million.

Six of 17 banks in Ho Chi Minh City are struggling to slash credits for non-productive sectors to 22% of their total outstanding loans.

Citigroup Inc. took a stake in a Vietnamese brokerage firm, betting that once the economy's rampant inflation slows, foreign investors will flock back to the country.

Citibank Vietnam is now a member of the Vietnam Bank Card ATM network.

Standing Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung announced that Vietnam will work closely with Laos to promote the training of Lao lecturers, undergraduates and postgraduates in finance and banking in Vietnam.

Sacombank will apply the demand deposit rates for the individuals and institutions that have opened the non-term payment accounts in dong at Sacombank.

PGBank raised its total deposits in 2010 to 13.995 trillion dong, based on its recently released 2010 annual reports.

HSBC Bank launched its high-interest online savings account to help their personal financial customers earn bigger returns on their savings.

OceanBank pledged to provide financial and banking services to Vinalines including lending for purchasing ships, advising card services, and others.

KienLongBank approved the 2011 year plan with targeted pre-tax profit of 405-506 billion dong, and dividend payment of 8-10 percent.

Bao Viet Bank has launched the three new e-bank services namely EZ-Saving, EZ-Topup and EZ-Billing. In details, EZ-Saving is the electrical saving service that allows the customers to make deposit via Internet. Using EZ-TopUp services allows the customers to make pre-paid mobile charges for all the Vietnamese mobile network providers and pay post-paid bills for subscribers of Viettel and MobiFone. The customers who use post-paid services for mobile phone, home phone and ADSL offered by Viettel and Sfone may pay the monthly bill easily via EZ-Billing that has been provided by Bao Viet Bank.  

The State Bank of Vietnam approved Maritime Bank's application to open six new branches.

The State Bank of Vietnam  on June 8 issued a Document No 4430/NHNN-TTGSNH allowing the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam to increase chartered capital by 508.4 billion dong.

According to Duong Thu Huong, General Secretary of Vietnam Banks Association, up to 83% of number of ATM cards are being used for cash withdrawal.

TienPhonBank obtained VND139 billion in pre-tax profits in the first five months of the year, doubling the figure in the same period last year.

The Lao-Vietnam Joint Venture Bank is a symbol of economic cooperation between the two countries, according to Vietnamese parfty official. To Huy Rua, Party Politburo member and Head of the Commission for Organisation of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee made the comment while meeting with LVB staff on June 5 during his five-day working visit to Laos, starting from June 4. During the meeting, he was briefed on the operation of LVB, which is partnered by the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam and the Lao Bank of Foreign Trade. After 12 years of operation, LVB has attained encouraging results, contributing to the building and preservation of the special friendship as well as comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos . By the end of April, 2011, the bank has a total asset value of over 330 million USD, representing a 30-fold increase compared with that recorded in early days, with an annual growth rate of more than 25 percent. LVB has partnered with BIDV and BCEL to set up the Lao-Vietnam Insurance Company in June, 2008, which then ranked second out of six insurance companies in Laos in 2010 with annual growth rate of over 200 percent and a network covering 17 cities and provinces in the country.