Vietnam appoints Standard Chartered as credit ratings adviser

Vietnam appointed Standard Chartered Bank Plc (STAN) to advise on improving the country’s sovereign debt rating, as it seeks to attract foreign investment, the lender said in an e-mailed press release today.

“We will assist the government in its strategic initiative to engage actively the rating agencies and, through them, the broader investor community,” Louis Taylor, Vietnam chief executive for Standard Chartered, said in the release.

Moody’s Investors Service has a B1 credit rating for Vietnam, four levels below investment grade. The New York-based company downgraded Vietnam’s long-term foreign-currency rating in December 2010, as did Standard & Poor’s.

Finance Minister Vuong Dinh Hue on Dec. 20 announced that Vietnam would establish a working group tasked with improving the country’s sovereign ratings.

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