Several banks began plans to enter the bourse earlier this year, either going straight to the Hanoi/HCM Stock Exchanges, or putting shares into transaction on UpCom. They are VIB, Kien Long Bank and VPBank.

VIB is well established in the UpCom market with stable share prices and high liquidity. Meanwhile, VPBank share has become a rising star on HOSE as it has outstripped Vietcombank, one of the largest banks where the State still holds a controlling stake.  

Several banks began plans to enter the bourse earlier this year, either going straight to the Hanoi/HCM Stock Exchanges, or putting shares into transaction on UpCom. They are VIB, Kien Long Bank and VPBank.

There have not been many impressive transactions of Kien Long Bank shares on UpCom, but deputy chair Vo Van Chau said the listing on UpCom is a breakthrough made by the bank.

In principle, all banks must become public companies. They have to list their shares either on official bourses or UpCom market as per a decision by the State Bank. They cannot delay the listing plans any longer as they have been urged repeatedly by the watchdog agency.

Meanwhile, listing shares is not a must for other banks which are undergoing restructuring, including the “zero-dong” (bought for zero dong) banks, namely CB, Ocean Bank and GPBank. 

After being put under special control, since August 2015, DAF shares of DongA Bank have been ‘frozen’ on the OTC market and all share transactions must be approved by SBV. The big shareholders of the bank such as Phu Nhuan Jewelry had to make 100 percent provision for the risks of investment in DongA. 

The ownership structure in DongA Bank has not changed. The H1 report showed that there was no share transaction.

PG Bank is not a weak bank and was not put under special control, but is going to be merged with another bank. The negotiations with VietinBank have not come to an end because of the disagreement in pricing, while there is a rumor that PG Bank is considering an opportunity to merge wirh Military Bank.

PG Bank shares have been selling well on OTC with prices hovering around VND14,000 per share.

Besides these banks and listed banks (VCB, CTG, BID, SHB, ACB, STB, EIB, NVB and MBB), others are still at the starting point of the process to become public.

HD Bank recently caught special attention from investors when announcing the high pre-tax profit of VND2 trillion, or 3.8 times higher than the same period last year, listing itself among the four most profitable banks.

HD Bank shares are now traded on OTC at VND27,000 per share.

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Mai Thanh