VietNamNet Bridg – So many commercial banks have announced the big changes in their structure recently that people have to raise a question what is happening with the banking sector.

VP Bank has announced the capital withdrawal by the strategic shareholder Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) – the biggest Singaporean bank in terms of the market capitalization value, the only and biggest foreign shareholder in VP Bank.

OCBC sold all of its stakes, amounting to 14.88 percent of the bank’s total capital, on November 22, 2013.

Prior to that, the bank’s biggest shareholder – Chau Tho Investment JSC – in early 2013 sold 86.5 million VP Bank shares (14.99 percent), quitting the bank just one day after it received 10.8 million shares in dividends. At that time, the involved parties did not expose the information about the new owners of the amount of stakes.

According to Singapore Business Review (SBR), OCBC has sold its stakes to three Vietnamese individual shareholders Huynh Ba Lan, Ngo Thu Thuy and Pham Vu Thi Nhu Hoang with negotiable prices. The deal was valued at $55.5 million, or VND1.17 trillion, paid in cash.

OCBC held the amount of VP Bank’s shares for seven years after two times of buying the bank’s stakes in 2006 and 2008 and receiving dividends in shares. It is estimated that it spent $41 million on the deal.

VP Bank has been witnessing consecutive big changes in the personnel structure over the last three years. In 2011-2013, most of old big shareholders and the members of the leadership left the bank. A new group of investors headed by President Ngo Tri Dung has taken the power.

It is too early to say about a wave of foreign investors withdrawing capital from Vietnamese banks. However, Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam has quoted its sources as saying that HD Bank has bought 100 percent of stakes of Viet Société Générale (SGVF), or in other words, Société Générale has sold its subsidiary in Vietnam.

Hundreds of millions of Eximbank shares have also been transferred in big transactions. Investors whispered in each others’ ears that big shareholders decided to leave, while the bank planned to buy 62 million treasury stocks. This is believed to be the beginning of a reform to occur in the bank.

In 2012, investors witnessed the abnormal deals of transferring Sacombank shares, which was followed by the historic hostile takeover over the bank.

Before Sacombank changed hands, the former owner and founder of the bank – Dang Van Thanh – tried to buy 100 million Sacombank shares, but failed to do that. A series of shareholders left the bank later, which have been replaced by a new leadership with the representatives from Phuong Nam and Eximbank.

Not only the shares of the big banks, but the shares of smaller ones have also been transferred recently.

In late May 2013, a completely new name turned up – Buildbank, which was TrustBank in the past. Thien Thanh Group and the other 20 individual shareholders now hold over 80 percent of the bank’s shares.

In mid-November 2013, the State Bank accepted the merger of Dai A Bank into HD Bank commencing from December 20, 2013.

In early September, the market witnessed the official merger of PetroVietnam Finance Corporation and Western Bank, which has resulted in the establishment of Pvcombank.

Manh Ha