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Banks moving ahead with capital increase plans
Banks all have confirmed they will complete the process of increasing chartered capital prior to December 31, 2008, as required.
Under Decree 141 stipulating the capital levels of banks, commercial banks must have the chartered capital of VND1tril prior to January 1, 2009, and VND3tril by the end of 2010.
Implementing the decision made at a shareholders’ meeting recently on raising its chartered capital from VND566.501bil to VND1,133bil, Pacific Bank has called on current shareholders to purchase more stocks to serve the capital increase plan.
Truong Nguyen Anh Minh, Chairman of Pacific Bank, said that the plan has been approved by the State Bank of Vietnam. The bank has fulfilled procedures for the capital increase, and submitted the plan to the State Securities Commission.
The plan by De Nhat Joint-stock Bank (FCB) to increase chartered capital from VND600bil to VND1tril has got the nod from the State Bank of Vietnam. FCB’s General Director Vu Ngoc Hoang said that he hopes the plan will be completed by December 20.
In order to implement the plan to raise capital to VND1tril, Kien Long Bank has decided to offer 42mil shares for sale to existing shareholders and staffs at VND10,000/share. The bank’s General Director Truong Hoang Luong said that the plan is expected to be completed by December 22, since the capital mobilisation from two strategic shareholders, Asia Commercial Bank and Saigontourist, has been completed.
Most of the banks which now have the chartered capital of below VND1tril say that they will increase capital on time. However, analysts say that small-scale banks are facing big difficulties with their plans to raise capital. The stock market remains quiet and the liquidity of bank shares has not improved - significant barriers to the realisation of their plans to increase capital. The market prices of some bank share items have dropped to below face value, while some banks are still trying to issue new shares at the face value of VND10,000/share.
Ho Huu Hanh, Director of the HCM City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, said that three banks in the city still have chartered capital below VND1tril. The plans to increase capital of the three have been approved by the HCM City branch of the central bank. It is likely Gia Dinh Bank will be the first bank to fulfill the capital increase from VND500bil to VND1tril by issuing shares to existing shareholders. The shareholders of the bank are big names, including Vietcombank, East Asia Bank and Saigon Bank.
According to Vietnam Thuong Tin, its plan to raise capital from VND500bil to VND1tril has been submitted to the Soc Trang branch of the State Bank of Vietnam. The bank has confirmed it will increase capital on schedule.
However, Director of Soc Trang branch of the central bank Vuong Quoc Nam said that the bank still has to add some more details to its application to increase capital. Meanwhile, the deadline for the capital increase is nearing, with just 20 days left.
DTCK
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