Foreign shareholdings at local banks stay at almost 30 percent

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has confirmed of no increase in foreign shareholdings at Vietnamese banks which stay at almost 30 percent of charter capital of a local bank.

The SBV said according to article 4 of decree 69, foreign shareholders rather than credit institutions may hold no more than 5 percent of a local bank’s charter capital. This shareholding limit is 10 percent for foreign credit institutions and 15 percent for foreign strategic partners in local banks.

In special cases, the Prime Minister will decide whether foreign investors would be able to increase in the shareholdings as the SBV proposed, but the rates would not surpass 20 percent of a bank’s charter capital.

Recently, the SBV has licensed some commercial banks, including the Vietnam Private Bank (VPBank), the joint-stock Southern Bank and the joint stock Southeast Asia Bank (SeaBank) to sell their shares to foreign strategic investors.

VOV

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