Vietnam

The HCM City People's Committee has set up a team to investigate if banks have been selling US dollars at above the official selling rate by charging "fees". 

Standard Chartered Bank is optimistic about Vietnam's economy and sees many growth opportunities in the country.

Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) would be the first international bank to join the Smartlink network.

Taiwan's First Commercial Bank opened its second branch in Vietnam to further expand into the emerging market.

Vietnam Airlines joined forces with VietinBank to introduce an online payment facility for customers through the E-Partner debit card.

State Bank of Viet Nam increased the allocated capital for Deutsche Bank AG, HCM City branch, from US$24 million to $50.08 million.

The Asia Commercial Bank has started screening fingerprints to identify account owners instead of signature and identity cards as before.

Vietnam bank loan growth slowed in January and dong lending slipped. Businesses are seeking dollar loans and sold dong to take advantage of a gap between local currency and dollar rates, central bank data showed.  

Vietnam's banks are selling dollars to businesses at a premium on the official rate by adding “consulting” fees. The State Bank of Vietnam Monday set the reference rate for the greenback at VND20,713 based on which banks sold it at VND20,900.

 DBS bank downgraded its forecast for the dong and expects the currency to decline by another 3.75 per cent against the U.S. dollar.

SBV adjusted the terms on the open market operations and made strong net injection of capital to support the liquidity for commercial banks.

The total amount of remittance transferred to Vietnam is estimated at about $8 billion. Of which, the total inward remittance sent to Vietnam via VietinBank reached $1.2 billion, rising 30 percent against 2009's and accounting for over 15 percent of the market share.

Commercial banks in Vietnam posted solid earnings in 2010 with an average growth in profit of over 20 per cent. Most of the growth is ascribed to lending and foreign exchange trading.

Bank loans in Vietnam will double by the end of 2013 on the back of subsidized interest rate schemes and large consumer credit demand.

Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triett said he believed that with its advantages in capital and its professionalism, Asia Commercial Bank  would develop faster and stronger. He sees it gradually expanding to penetrate regional and global markets.