Vietnam to float five commercial banks
HANOI - Five state-owned banks may be partly privatised and floated on the stock exchange if a plan submitted to the government last week by the central bank is approved, officials say.
Le Xuan Nghia, director of the bank development strategy department in the State Bank of Vietnam said the process could begin in the third quarter of this year.
"The purpose is to mobilise more capital and improve the (financial position) of the banks," he said.
The institutions are the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Vietnam, the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, and the Cuu Long Delta Housing Development Bank.
Nghia was not able to say what percentage stake the government would retain in the banks, which are saddled with non-performing loans.
"If everything goes well, we expect to start the process on the first two banks in the third quarter of this year," he said.
The Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam and the Cuu Long Delta Housing Development Bank are the first in line, he added.
Agence France Presse - March 20, 2004.
|