By Ba Do  April 3, 2018 | 01:42 pm GMT+7 Members of riot police force march during a parade in Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham Government auditors found early this year that 57,175 public servants are actually surplus to requirements. Vietnam is planning to streamline its police service by reducing staff numbers following a directive issued by the Politburo, the Communist Party's all-powerful decision-making body. The Ministry of Public Security is order to restructure its system to "build a focused and unified machine," it said late on Monday. No specific numbers have been revealed. The plan will scale down staff numbers in units related to education, media and healthcare in the police force, the. Firefighters will also be reassigned so that they can work closely with colleagues in nearby cities and provinces. The plan will also move police officers to crime hotspots. Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security has six general departments and high commands, and … [Read more...] about Vietnam to slash police numbers to strenghthen unity
Military bank vietnam
Fitch upgrades ratings of three Vietnamese banks
Fitch Ratings upgraded the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of Military Bank to ‘B+’ from ‘B’. — Photo Military Bank Fitch Ratings on Tuesday upgraded the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Military Bank) to ‘B+’ from ‘B’ with a stable outlook. Fitch also upgraded the bank’s viability rating to ‘b+’ from ‘b’. In a report released on Tuesday, the agency also upgraded the viability rating of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) to ‘b’ from ‘b-’. The long-term IDRs of Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), Vietinbank and Vietcombank have been affirmed at ‘B+’ with a positive outlook. The IDR of Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) has been affirmed at ‘B’ with a stable … [Read more...] about Fitch upgrades ratings of three Vietnamese banks
Fitch upgrades Military Bank, affirms four banks’ IDRs
Fitch upgrades Military Bank, affirms four banks' IDRs Fitch Ratings in a February 27 report upgraded the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of Military Bank to “B+” from “B” with a stable outlook and its viability rating to “b+” from “b”. At the same time, it upgraded the viability ratings of Vietcombank and Vietinbank to “b” from “b-”. Photo from mbbank.com.vn At the same time, the long-term IDRs of Agribank, Vietinbank and Vietcombank have been affirmed at “B+” with a positive outlook, while the IDR of ACB has been affirmed at “B” with a stable outlook. According to Fitch, the positive rating action takes into account the Vietnamese banking system’s enhanced operating environment, with improved economic policy-making from authorities promoting macroeconomic stability and predictability. “This has enabled banks to significantly reduce their exposure to legacy problem … [Read more...] about Fitch upgrades Military Bank, affirms four banks’ IDRs
Northern banks agree to lower rates
By Thuy Trieu - The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – Representatives of commercial banks in the north will lower both deposit and lending rates from July. This was an outcome of a meeting with the Vietnam Banks Association in Hanoi on Tuesday.Therefore, State-owned banks will be decreasing lending rates to 12%-12.5% per year, while the level committed to by joint-stock banks is 12.5%-13.5% per year.Huong said the lending rates would apply to enterprises in the agricultural sector, small and medium enterprises and export enterprises. The enterprises also have to operate effectively.Banks have agreed that given current economic conditions, high borrowing rates would lead to high lending rates, making it difficult for enterprises to access banks’ capital, she said. The banks will gradually lower deposit rates in the coming months, she said.As strongly decreasing borrowing rates in a short time would be difficult, the Vietnam Banks Association has oriented banks towards decreasing … [Read more...] about Northern banks agree to lower rates
Local banks to march to overseas markets
Local banks to march to overseas marketsBy Hong Phuc - The Saigon Times DailyHCMC – Several local banks are readying themselves for strategic moves to invest in other countries, focusing first on neighboring markets and then on those destinations where their customers are moving to, said central bank officials.Dang Thanh Binh, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, told the opening ceremony of the Military Bank’s branch in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh last week that several local banks were following suit.“Several Vietnamese banks have been deploying their plans to expand their business overseas,” he said.Some other banks that are speeding up their plans include Vietnam Maritime Commercial Bank (Maritime Bank) and Saigon-Hanoi Bank, the latter mulling a branch in Cambodia,said another central bank official.According to a well-informed source, Maritime Bank has undergone necessary procedures to set up its wholly-owned bank in Cambodia. Also, it intends to … [Read more...] about Local banks to march to overseas markets
Moody’s optimistic about bad debt resolution in VN’s banks
Techcombank successfully wrote down their VAMC bond exposures from their balance sheets in 2017 (Photo Techcombank) Hanoi (VNA) - Some Vietnamese banks have made meaningful progress in the resolution of legacy problem assets, a positive credit for the sector, Moody’s said on February 5. This is because the disposal of problem assets improves the banks’ asset quality and removes a drag on their profitability. Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) has been the latest local lender to have fully written down bonds issued by the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC). Before it, Vietcombank, Techcombank and Military Bank, successfully wrote down their VAMC bond exposures from their balance sheets in the fourth quarter of 2017. According to Moody’s, asset quality at most Vietnamese banks stabilised in 2017, helped by healthy macroeconomic conditions. The banks’ profitability also improved as higher-yielding retail loans increased, enabling … [Read more...] about Moody’s optimistic about bad debt resolution in VN’s banks
Moody’s optimistic about bad debt resolution in Vietnam’s banks
Techcombank successfully wrote down their VAMC bond exposures from their balance sheets in 2017 (Photo: Techcombank) This is because the disposal of problem assets improves the banks’ asset quality and removes a drag on their profitability. Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) has been the latest local lender to have fully written down bonds issued by the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC). Before it, Vietcombank, Techcombank and Military Bank, successfully wrote down their VAMC bond exposures from their balance sheets in the fourth quarter of 2017. According to Moody’s, asset quality at most Vietnamese banks stabilised in 2017, helped by healthy macroeconomic conditions. The banks’ profitability also improved as higher-yielding retail loans increased, enabling them to allocate higher provisioning expenses to write off their VAMC bonds ahead of schedule. Additionally, enhanced legal frameworks, such as Resolution 42, which allows banks and VAMC to rapidly repossess … [Read more...] about Moody’s optimistic about bad debt resolution in Vietnam’s banks
Banks expect higher profits from retail banking services
HÀ NỘI – Banks are investing significantly in retail banking services instead of only focusing on corporate lending in the hope of gaining higher profits from the potential segment this year. With more than 93 million people and sharply increasing consumption, Việt Nam is considered a hot destination for the retail banking segment, which is why banks have strategically planned to boost the segment. In fact, the in-cash habit of Vietnamese people is no longer an obstacle to the development of card network and non-credit services. Thus, several banks are aiming to bring customers a variety of non-traditional credit services, such as savings and transactional accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit and credit cards. Notably from the beginning of this year, many banks have considerably improved the quality of retail banking services to enhance competitiveness in the market. They are also focussing on other aspects such as marketing, technology and human resources … [Read more...] about Banks expect higher profits from retail banking services
Bank shares help shore up liquidity
Bank shares help shore up liquidityPhuong Thao By Phuong Thao - The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – Huge put-through transactions of a number of bank tickers brought up liquidity on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) to a four-month high on Thursday but the VN-Index saw a slight rebound after two consecutive falling sessions. Around 47.3 million shares of STB, or 4.7% of the bank’s outstanding shares, were traded in put-through transactions while there were nearly 6.6 million shares of EIB traded in blocks. With put-through deals on Wednesday taken into account, over 25 million EIB shares had changed hands in blocks. Block deals in total accounted for 65% of Thursday’s turnover of VND1.8 trillion on HOSE. Speculation on property stocks gave the VN-Index a slight boost, sending the index up 1.15 points, or 0.24%, against the previous day to close at 486.22. Many property tickers advanced strongly, of which NTL, ITC, LCG, DIG and TDH closed nearly at the limit-up with … [Read more...] about Bank shares help shore up liquidity
Bank shares sought after on stock market
Bank shares sought after on stock marketBy Thuy Trieu - The Saigon Times DailyHCMC – Shares of banks, either listed or unlisted, have become the most hunted on the stock market recently following the strong rally of the capital market.Two stocks, Sacombank (STB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), have seen prices increasing strongly recently on high trading volumes.Pham Linh, general director of Vietnam Securities Co. (VIS), said that during 2008 and the first two months of this year, bank shares had fallen deeply to under reasonable prices, meaning their price per earning ratios (P/E) were low considering the potential of the banking sector in an emerging market like Vietnam.“When the market recovers, investors will trade to put those shares in reasonable levels,” he said. According to VIS, the P/E of the banking sector by June 5 was 9.16 while the average P/E of Vietnam’s market was 14.39.According to securities companies as well as free brokers on the unlisted … [Read more...] about Bank shares sought after on stock market