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Foreign banks post better growth in first half
As Vietnamese banks struggle through numerous obstacles, foreign-invested banks are reporting impressive growth rates for the first half of the year.
According to the State Bank of Vietnam’s Credit Information Centre, foreign bank branches and joint venture banks attained the highest growth rates, at 33 and 50 percent, in terms of assets and outstanding loans in the first six months of the year.
Average growth rates in the whole banking system were only 8 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
Though representing only 9.3 percent of total outstanding loans both in Vietnamese dong and US dollars, foreign banks and joint venture banks currently account for as much as 29.5 percent of the total number of outstanding dollar loans in the whole banking system.
The centre said that business performances by foreign banks in Viet Nam were much better than those of Vietnamese banks.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese banks were struggling with a series of difficulties in regards to capital sources, interest rates and bad debts caused by tightened monetary policies. They’ve also been bogged down in real estate and securities loans since last year, while foreign banks have avoided these troubles.
With high liquidity and profuse capital, foreign banks have capitalised on the difficulties of Vietnamese banks to expand their market shares in the domestic retail banking market, which use to be dominated by Vietnamese banks.
Instead of focusing only on foreign direct investors, foreign banks, including HSBC, ANZ and Standard Chartered, have started providing services to Vietnamese private companies, small-and medium-size enterprises and Vietnamese households.
Previously, Vietnamese clients were under the impression that they would not be able to access foreign bank services, because they thought that with global brand names, foreign banks were only interested in big clients, like State-owned corporations and foreign-invested companies.
Foreign banks currently have a lot of advantages to lure clients of Vietnamese enterprises, which have been making profits, but cannot get credit from local banks due to local banks’ policies on limiting credit. While most domestic banks have postponed plans to expand their networks due to financial difficulties, foreign banks have tried to enlarge their networks.
Standard Chartered has recently opened a branch and launched retail banking services in the domestic market.
Apart from the recent establishment of a wholly foreign bank branch in Vietnam, ANZ also has plans to open four more transaction offices by the end of the year, and even more branches in Hanoi and HCM City thereafter.
VNA
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