Central bank stops licensing joint-stock banks
Permits will no longer be issued to establish joint-stock commercial banks, according to a statement posted on the central bank’s website Friday.
The State Bank of Vietnam would stop receiving applications until further notice, the statement said.
It said the decision is based on the government’s instruction last month to “amend the conditions for setting up a joint-stock commercial bank.”
“Pending the revisions, the issue of permits for establishing new joint-stock commercial banks will be stopped temporarily,” the instruction, dated July 29, said.
Vietnam, where about 10 percent of the 86.5 million population have bank accounts, has 37 joint-stock banks, some of them owned by private companies and individuals.
The central bank said it has received more than 20 applications to establish banks, but only two have been licensed and begun operations.
The government has ordered state-owned corporations to focus on their core businesses instead of entering all kinds of industries from real estate to banking.
Thanhnien
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