Foreign investors’ shares in Vietnamese banks kept unchanged

VGP – According to the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV), it was recently rumored on the financial and banking markets that the Government would raise the percentage of shares hold by foreign investors (FIs) and strategic foreign investors (SFIs) in Vietnamese commercial banks.

August 19, 2008 5:05 PM GMT+7

The percentage of shares hold by foreign investors in Vietnamese commercial banks will not be raised – Illustration photo

The SBV confirmed that FIs’ percentage of shares will be not readjusted as stipulated in Article 4 of Decree 69/2007/NĐ-CP issued on April 20, 2007 on FIs’ purchase of stocks in Vietnamese commercial banks.

Accordingly, the total percentage of stocks owned by FIs (including current foreign shareholders) and their stakeholders must not exceed 30% of the charter capital of a bank.

The percentage hold by a FI who is not a credit organization and its stakeholders will not be higher than 5% of the bank’s charter capital.

The figure for a foreign credit organization and its stakeholders is not more than 10% of the charter capital.

An SFI and their stakeholders are allowed to own not more than 15% of the charter capital of a Vietnamese bank.

In special case, the PM will consider the SBV’s proposals and permit an SFI and their stakeholders to hold more than 15% but not over 20% of the charter capital.

By Phương Uyên