Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) plans to open between 10 and 15 branches in Vietnam by the end 2008 once it wins license to operate as a fully foreign owned bank in the country.
ANZ country general manager Dam Bich Thuy said her bank is ready for the expansion plan and hoped to receive permission in the fourth quarter this year.
After established, ANZ's new subsidiary will pump more moneys in Vietnam, including the purchase of a 10 per cent stake in Sacombank for $27 million, and the $88 million-purchase of a 10 per cent stake in SSI.
ANZ plans to offer a full product suit in Vietnam, Thuy said. The bank has been offering both retail and investment services directly through its subsidiary and also through its partnerships with Sacombank and SSI.
ANZ will target higher income customers and large corporations in order to win business in Vietnam's increasingly competitive banking sector, she said.
Under a new regulation passed in April and effective from July 20, foreign banks are now allow to establish fully owned subsidiaries in Vietnam. In addition, they will be able to buy 15 per cent stake in domestic commercial banks, with the option to increase the holding to 20 per cent on the government’s approval.
HSBC was allowed in July by the State Bank of Vietnam to raises its stake in Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Techcombank, to 15 per cent from 10 per cent, the first time the April decree was applied.
To date, ANZ and the UK’s HSBC Holding PLC and Standard Chartered PLC have applied to set up their 100 per cent foreign owned subsidiaries in Vietnam.
ANZ, the first foreign bank to enter Vietnam, opened its Hanoi branch in February 1993, and its second branch in Ho Chi Minh City in 1996.
At the end of 2006, foreign banks controlled 14 per cent of Vietnam’s domestic banking market, compared with 18 per cent for local private-sector banks and 68 per cent for state-owned commercial banks. (VNA , Foreign Media)
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