France provides financial support for Vietnam

The French Development Agency (AFD) has signed two important financial support agreements worth 20.5 million euro with Vietnam’s two investment funds on urban development in Danang and Can Tho cities.

Of the figure, AFD will offer 500,000 euro in non-refundable aid.

The signing ceremony is under the framework of a meeting of the Council for France-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Development which is being held in Paris from November 21-25.

The financial package will help two Vietnamese cities to implement socio-economic goals, deal with challenges to the urban development process and cope with climate change.

AFD’s total financial support for Vietnam has so far reached more than 1 billion euro.

Gov’t vows to solve difficulties for business

The Vietnam Government will take effective measures to solve difficulties for businesses, especially snags in accessing capital, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The Government leader made the statement while receiving entrepreneurs who are National Assembly deputies to the second session of the 13th NA in Hanoi on Nov. 22.

He said the Government will offer tax exemptions and relaxed policies, control the trade deficit, expand domestic and foreign markets, continue administrative reform and create a favourable business environment.

According to PM Dung, the business community has actively shown the spirit of creativity to overcome difficulties and challenges, making great contributions to national construction and socio-economic development.

He expressed his hope that entrepreneurs, especially those who are NA deputies, will make greater contributions to the country through building institutions, creating an open and transparent business environment, and improving the efficiency of business activities.

Representatives of the entrepreneurs affirmed that they will stand side by side with the Government to successfully achieve the main targets for socio-economic development.

Promoting Vietnam-RoK tourism cooperation

The Korean Tourism Administration organized a roadshow in HCM City on November 22 to introduce the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s tourism potential.

The RoK is one of Vietnam’s leading partners in tourism industry.

HCM City and Busan City have co-sponsored many cultural events such as tourism fairs and food festivals.

In 2010, HCM City received over 35,000 Korean visitors.

It’s estimated that there will be as many as 50,000 Vietnamese coming from HCM City to Busan City by the end of the year, up 20 percent against the previous year.

Vietnam, UAE to foster cooperation in seafood export

A workshop on opportunities for Vietnamese seafood in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market is taking place in the UAE capital city of Abu Dhabi from November 21-23.

The event is jointly organised by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) in cooperation with the Vietnamese Embassy to UAE on the occasion of VASEP’s participation at the SIAL food fair Middle East 2011 in Abu Dhabi.

Speaking at the opening, Vietnamese ambassador Tran Ngoc Thach highlighted the recent strong development of the Vietnam-UAE trade relations, especially in the field of fishery, saying that the workshop is a good chance for the two sides’ enterprises to seek cooperative opportunities in this field.

He stressed that the UAE is not only a sale market but also a gateway for Vietnamese seafood products to markets in Middle East and North Africa.

UAE Vice Minister of Foreign Trade Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh said the workshop will help businesses of UAE and Vietnam to gain better understanding on guidelines, policies and regulations in processing and exporting seafood products in the other country.

Top 1,000 corporate taxpayers published

Vietnam Report, in collaboration with online newswire VietNamNet and the General Department of Taxation’s Tax magazine, organised a ceremony on November 22 to honour the country’s top 1,000 corporate-tax contributors in Hanoi.

Contributions from foreign-direct enterprises doubled from VND19 trillion in 2010 to VND38.9 trillion. This represented a 1 per cent rise to 24.92 per cent in the V1000 making list in 2011.

The V1000 revealed that 16.3 per cent of firms for the first time were entered on the list. Of those, state-owned and private enterprises occupied 42.9 per cent and 31.3 per cent of the slots, respectively. Foreign-invested enterprises (FIF) represented 25.8 per cent.

State firms continue to lead in tax contributions. The top 10 tax contributions were state-owned enterprises (SOEs), with their payments more than doubling from VND25.7 trillion ($1.24 billion) in 2010 to an estimated VND64.8 trillion ($3.13 billion) in 2011.

Meanwhile, contributions by private firms slid from 20.62 per cent in 2010 to 17.8 per cent in 2011, indicating the sector’s vulnerable nature during tough economic times.

The top 100 tax contributors in this year’s V100 contributed 72.4 per cent of tax paid by 1,000 firms on the rating list.

The top 10 enterprises were: Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP), VietsovPetro Joint Venture Enterprise (VietsovPetro), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), Military Telecommunication Group (Viettel), Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company (VMS), Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin), PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas), Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank).

This is the second year that the V1000 ranking list has been compiled. It is to recognise and honour enterprises that have the biggest tax contribution for three consecutive years (2008-2010) for the state budget.

V1000 is based on independent data survey processed by Vietnam Report.

Information and data about enterprises were taken from top 500 Vietnamese enterprises VNR500, VNR Biz Database (Vietnam Report’s extensive database with over 250,000 enterprises), data sourcing from the country’s two major bourses HNX and HOSE, and from 3,000 company records sent to Vietnam Report for checking and verification.

East-West Corridor attractive to Japanese investors

The East-West Economic Corridor linking Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam becomes the major attraction to investors from the Kansai region of Japan as Japanese investors are seeking to expand investment there.

The corridor was highlighted in the fifth Vietnam-Japan Economic Forum that was organized on Tuesday in Danang City by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in cooperation with the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

The main focus of the forum was placed on the potentials and opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the development of local infrastructure and the East-West Economic Corridor. The event is part of the annual economic cooperation program between Vietnam and Japan’s Kansai.

Dang Huy Dong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, attributed the strong development in the economic relationship between Vietnam and Japan to the local demand for investment attraction and industrialization promotion as well as the essential demand of Japanese enterprises, especially those from Kansai.

Chairman Shosuke Mori of Kankeiren said Kansai is the second biggest center of economy, industry and service in Japan after Tokyo. Plenty of the world’s famous industrial and service corporations, such as Panasonic, Sharp, Hitachi, Zosen and Sumitomo, are located in Kansai along with multiple well-known producers in supporting industries.

“Supporting industries are the biggest shortcoming of Vietnam. The two sides will spend much time at the event to discuss cooperation to develop manufacturing and supporting industries, especially in Central Vietnam so as to enhance and promote its role as a link between Vietnam and ASEAN countries via the East-West Corridor,” said Mori.

The economic forum witnessed the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and the leaders of related agencies as well as the central provinces. Besides, over 100 enterprises, investors, and heads of several universities and research institutes in Kansai also joined in the event.

Deputy PM Hai said the central provinces as well as the East-West Economic Corridor play a strategic role as a gateway to Lower Mekong River countries. Despite the many potentials, the development of this region is still limited.

According to the government portal chinhphu.vn, as of end-October, the central region has attracted only 750 projects worth US$23.7 billion in capital, or 11.6% compared to the whole country. Particularly, there are 71 Japan-invested projects with the total registered capital of US$417 million, accounting for a mere 2% of the Japanese total investment capital in Vietnam.

Also at the event, Hai said an annual budget of US$15 billion is required for the synchronous development of infrastructure system in order to achieve the target of industrialization and modernization by 2020. The economic forum offered a great chance for the country to call for investors from Japan.

Since the 1990s, Japan’s direct investment in Vietnam has recorded a stable growth, with over 1,600 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects still valid worth US$22.3 billion in registered capital. Japan currently provides the biggest amount of official development assistance (ODA) capital for Vietnam.

The two-way trade turnover was over US$16 billion in 2010, rising 22% year-on-year. As of end-September this year, the trade volume between the two countries has reached approximately US$15 billion.

Japanese investors show keen interest in PPP projects

Japanese investors at a meeting here on Monday showed keen interest in infrastructure projects to be developed under the form of public-private partnerships (PPP).

At the meeting with the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment on PPP investment in HCMC on Monday, Japanese investors said they wanted to learn more about the legal corridor, risk sharing as well as the feasibility of such projects.

Norio Hattori, former Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam and representative of an international investment fund, said the Japanese investors were very much drawn to the list of PPP projects in Vietnam. Therefore, quality project research reports are necessary for investors to approach, he said.

As for the PPP projects for infrastructure development in HCMC, investors suggested that the Government form sample contracts for these projects so as for the potential investors to refer to. Besides, the Vietnam party should hire foreign consultancy agencies to assess the project’s feasibility, which would help improve the attraction to investors.

However, the top concern for Japanese investors is the legal corridor, the degree of risk sharing during cooperation and the information on project’s viability in order to promote investment.

Speaking to the investors, Dang Xuan Quang, deputy head of the Foreign Investment Department, said Vietnam appreciated the interest of foreign investors, especially those from Japan, in the progress of finalizing the legal corridor and deploying pilot projects. Vietnam would release sufficient policies to promote, attract and facilitate investors to join the PPP infrastructure projects, starting with information disclosure.

Competitive bidding for developers of PPP projects would be organized to ensure a fair and transparent playground for foreign investors, said Quang.

Also at the meeting, the HCMC Department of Transport introduced to the foreign investors the traffic infrastructure projects to be piloted in the city under PPP form. The emphasis was placed on the elevated road No.1 project, also known as Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe overhead road.

The project linking Tan Son Nhat Airport and Nguyen Huu Canh Street is 10.8 kilometers in length and consists of four lanes. The total investment for this project is some US$720 million, according to the calculation in the project formation during 2007-2008.

The mission of Japanese investors and companies are going on a survey trip in Vietnam and having meetings with the authorities of three localities being Hanoi, HCMC and Haiphong to directly study the local demand, market and investment environment.

The survey trip drew the participation of over 60 Japanese investors, including representatives of investment funds, infrastructure development research institutes along with investors interested in the Vietnam market.
 
Ninh Thuan to hire foreign consultants for master plan

Ninh Thuan Province has received approval from the Prime Minister to hire foreign consulting firms to map out the economic zoning plan and strategy, the provincial government leader said.

Two leading consulting firms, Monitor Group from the U.S. and Arup Group from the UK, have been picked to develop the overall plan for Ninh Thuan until 2020 and a vision towards 2030, chairman of the province Nguyen Duc Thanh said on Sunday.

This central province has several potentials for energy, mineral resources, tourism and agricultural development. However, Ninh Thuan has faced some obstacles in attracting domestic and foreign investments, making its socio-economic growth lower than other provinces in the south central region, Thanh said.

The development plan of Ninh Thuan will be based on six key sectors, comprising clean energy, tourism, agro-forestry-fisheries, processing and production, education and training, and property.

The province, in coordination with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, will organize a conference in mid-December to announce the overall development plan as well as to attract investments. The conference to be held in Phan Rang City is expected to offer cooperation and investment opportunities for local and foreign firms, he added.

Besides, Ninh Thuan will call for investments into 46 projects in the six major sectors and 26 other projects using the Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital source.

According to Do Nhat Hoang, director of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the careful preparation of Ninh Thuan will promise a sustainable investment flow and restrict weaknesses that most of other provinces are encountering.
 
South Korea promotes MICE tourism in Vietnam

South Korea has started to tap potentials of MICE (meeting, inventive, convention and exhibition) tourism from Vietnam besides promoting its normal tourism attractions to Vietnamese tourists.

South Korea Tourism Organization on Tuesday held a road show to introduce the MICE tourism to Vietnamese firms with new products and services.

South Korea’s Embassy in Hanoi has recorded over 90,200 Vietnamese tourists traveling to this country last year, up 18.7% against the previous year.

Travel firms in HCMC have estimated that the figure would be higher this year due to new tourism products, loosened visa policies and lower expenses.

Cao Pham Hang, director of SPSC Tours, said her firm has now organized tours to South Korea every month compared to few tours in the past.

“The number of tourists has risen strongly this year, especially when the tour to Jeju Island without visa is offered, and we sell more tours as tourists want to visit Seoul when flying to Jeju. Local firms have also received support from South Korean partners to sell tours,” said Hang.

Saigontourist has also arranged trips to South Korea every week recently.

A representative from Asia World Tour, operator of the HCMC-Jeju trip on chartered flights, said the firm took two groups of 100-120 tourists each to Jeju each week.

Some large firms have started to provide bonus tours to South Korea for their employees, according to Hang from SPSC Tours.

However, she now cares for offering a combined tour with cosmetic surgery after discussing with South Koea’s Jane Tour & DMC Co. There have been some clients asking for information about the service, she added.
 
Industrial clusters developed too quickly in Vietnam

The number of small-sized industrial zones, often referred to as industrial clusters, has been growing strongly in Vietnam, but developers of such zones have attracted few tenants, experts said on Tuesday.

Le Xuan Ba, director of Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said that an industrial cluster is a concentrated industrial zone covering less than 50 hectares while industrial parks are bigger.

The legal framework for such petty zones is not clear as developers of such zones do not enjoy similar incentives to IP builders.

Vietnam is currently home to 1,872 industrial clusters with a total area of over 76,000 hectares.

However, only some 918 IZs have already been built and cover 40,600 hectares, with only 7,500 hectares having been leased, according to Tran Kim Hao from CIEM.

“The rampant development of such zones while inefficient has caused a reduction in agricultural land,” said Hao at a seminar on the matter in Hanoi on Tuesday..

Nicola Coniglio from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) suggested Vietnam should prioritize the development of a couple of such zones instead of investing haphazardly as currently. Besides, it is necessary to identify the role of the Government and provinces in the development of such zones, he added.

At a recent seminar organized by UNIDO in Danang, the Agency for Industrial Promotion under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said Vietnam is in need of VND100 trillion building facilities for petty industrial zones until 2015.

* In related news, the National Assembly on Tuesday endorsed a plan to expand the total areas of industrial zones in the country by 30,000 hectares in the next five years from the current 100,000 hectares, though the occupancy rate still remains modest at only 46%.

Earlier, the Government had proposed setting aside 50,000 more hectares of land between now and 2015 for developing new industrial zones. The National Assembly, however, said the priority in the coming years should be to increase the occupancy rate, and therefore, it scaled down the expansion to 30,000 hectares.

Financial officers urged to think ahead

Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) must develop effective financial management systems to position their companies for future development opportunities, Nguyen Ngoc Bach, director of theViet Nam CFO Club, said at a Viet Nam CFO Forum 2011 held yesterday in HCM City.

The forum targeted Asian CFOs ready for the new stage of development and was co-hosted by the Viet Nam Chief Financial Officers Club (VCFO) and the Japan Association for CFOs (JACFO).

CFOs and corporate leaders discussed measures to prevent and minimise risks in business operations.

"It is essential that Vietnamese firms formulate an accounting and finance strategy to support business activities and standardise business processes for their accounting and finance functions, based on expertise in this sector," said Hiroshi Yaguchi, chairman of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes, and founder and executive director of the Japan Association for CFOs.

One of the strategies is to foster and train highly-qualified human resources, especially in accounting and finance, against the backdrop of current concerns over the global recession, which stems from a sovereign debt crisis in the EU and the US.

"It is absolutely necessary for Viet Nam to put a proper accounting education system in place and train those working in accounting and finance functions in the business sector," he said.

He said that Viet Nam would become more and more important as a key player among Asia's emerging economies in Asia, which have become the drivers of the world economy.

Seven CFOs Associations in Asian jurisdictions, such as China, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia and Viet Nam, have started a project to establish global accreditation by developing a practical test that can assess all financial-department staff in corporations by a single measure - the universal FASS test.

Chris Southam of Microsoft Corporation, who discussed the changing role of CFOs in the new environment, said future CFOs should think and act internationally, and have broad communication channels instead of a local focus held by more traditional CFOs.

Technology can also help CFOs enhance performance, particularly in the context of globalisation, resource constraints, overlapping accountabilities, and data explosion.

Ha Vu Dinh, audit director at KPMG Viet Nam, said that technology was playing a vital role in helping financial functions achieve operation excellence.

CFOs should build technology infrastructure that streamlines processes, eliminates redundant tasks, and improves data quality and consistency, all of which can release staff time that can then be spent on value-creating activities.

However, technology can only be as good as the people who operate it and interpret the outputs.

Companies need to establish formal career frameworks to identify and develop key talent within the organisation.

For example, it is critical to develop well-rounded financial professionals who are able to adapt their technical knowledge to deliver a new suite of value-added services to business.

At the forum, economist Le Dang Doanh said that the Vietnamese economy would recover next year with lower inflation and increased GDP, according to the Asian Development Outlook database.

Meanwhile, the Government set its first priority on controlling inflation and macro-economic stabilisation.

He said it was crucially important to restructure the economy and change the growth model.

Restructuring the finance sector, mainly focusing on restructuring commercial banks, is another priority.

Major plan indicators next year include a GDP growth rate of 6.5 per cent, export turnover of US$99.7 billion (an increase of 12 per cent), a Consumer Price Index of no more than 10 per cent, and a budget deficit occupy 4.8 per cent of GDP.

Low labor costs in Viet Nam were still attractive, he said, adding that equitisation of State–owned economic groups and corporations would offer opportunities for foreign investors.

Duong Hai, standing deputy director of the Viet Nam CFOs Club, said that, in the context of economic difficulties expected next year, risk management would help create value for enterprises.

Nghe An, Ha Tinh provinces to be economic zone

An area of nearly 3,700sq m across the southern part of Nghe An and the northern part of Ha Tinh provinces is set to become a key economic zone of the North Central Region, according to a plan ratified by the Prime Minister recently.

The zone would play a key role in ensuring national security.

The plan gives priority to industrial development, including food processing, textile and mechanical industries, which would apply high technology in manufacture. The total area of land designated for the industrial zones would be 2230ha.

In addition, a system of urban areas and infrastructure would be developed.

The region also planned to develop tourism, based on the resources of sea, rivers, lakes and ecosystem as well as historical monuments.

By 2015, all communes in the region would have a road leading to their centres. The percentage of concrete and asphalted roads in remote mountainous communes was set at 15 per cent by 2015 and 20 per cent in 2020.

Also, the national highway running through the region would be upgraded, along with the railroad and waterway, to turn the region into a centre of trade in goods and services.

The total population was expected to reach more than 1.5 million by 2015, 40 per cent of which would live in urban areas.

The region includes Vinh City, Cua Lo Town and Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan and Thanh Chuong districts in Nghe An Province and Hong Linh Town and Nghi Xuan, Duc Tho and Huong Son districts in Ha Tinh Province.

New law on accounting violations

The Government promulgated Decree No 39/2011/ND-CP last May, amending Decree No 185/2004/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations in accountancy. Decree No 39 took effect on August 1.

Decree No 39 increases the number of penalties for various violations, with the maximum penalty set at VND30 million (US$1,500) – a 50-per-cent increase compared to the old one.

For fraudulent declaration of accounting records, the fine rises from VND5-20 million ($240-970) to a range of VND10-30 million ($500-1,500). The penalty for the issuance of an invoice which does not comply with applicable regulations is now VND20-30 million ($970-1,500), a 400-per-cent increase over the previous fines. Even with these drastic increases, however, the fines remain a small fraction of the money dishonest companies can generate from non-compliant invoices.

Decree No 39 also introduces more stringent non-monetary penalties for such offenses as forging, or making a false statement in a voucher; deliberately cancelling or damaging an accounting voucher; making an account voucher in which the sheets contain conflicting content; failing to provide a source document for a financial transaction; or deliberately generating different source documents for the same transaction

Under Decree No 184, an accountant found to have committed any of these offenses faced the temporary loss of their licence to practice. Under the new decree, the licence can now be lost permanently.

Thus, from now on, if an accountant is found to have committed one of the above violations, he or she cannot simply ask their employer to cover the applicable fine. Instead, they will lose their professional qualification, a penalty likely to persuade accountants be less willing to bend the rules in response to pressure from management.

Decree No 39 also specifies a number of new offenses subject to fine. For example, a fine of up to VND2 million ($97) will now apply if an accounting voucher is signed by an unauthorised person, and a fine of VND5-15 million ($240-725) will apply for failing to fully sign and seal accounting records once they have been published. Current fine levels for these offenses are extremely low and unlikely to deter those who intentionally and systematically violate accountancy regulations.

Fines for accounting violations can be imposed by numerous Government bodies, from the financial inspectorate to the local People's Committee. However each authority is limited as to the exact levels of fine which they can impose. For the Head of the Inspectorate of the Department of Finance, Decree No 39 increases this threshold by 50 per cent to VND30 million ($1,500).

Decree No 39 significantly increases the monetary sanctions for accounting violations, in some cases by 400 per cent. It has also introduced a number of new penalties, including the permanent withdrawal of professional licences. These new penalties will probably be effective in encouraging accountants and executives to be more honest, vigilant and conscientious in their compliance with accountancy regulations. However, it remains to be seen how big an impact the new, but still very low, penalties will have on unscrupulous companies which intentionally breach other accounting regulations.

Gia Dinh Commercial Bank expands

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has approved a request by Gia Dinh Commercial Joint Stock Bank to establish a limited company for debt management and asset trading.

The company will be called Giadinhbank Asset Management Company Limited and have chartered capital of VND100 billion (US$ 4.76 million).

PETEC, PV Gas join hands

The PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas) and Petec Trading and Investment Corporation (PETEC) have agreed to join hands over business and distribution.

The two corporations will take advantage of each other's capacity to trade and distribute liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), steel pipes, concrete resurfacing services, petroleum and petrochemical products and the use of PETEC Cai Mep petroleum port.

The two will also co-operate in finance, investment, management and training.

Amway enlarges AMATA factory

Amway Viet Nam Company Limited has spent US$3.5 million to upgrade and expand its factory at the AMATA Industrial Park in southern Dong Nai Province.

The factory opened in 2007 with an investment of $14.8 million. It specialises in producing nutritional supplements, and skin care, personal care and household cleaning products. In the first nine months of this year, the company posted a stable double-digit growth rate coupled with a growing network of distributors.

Processor starts work on shrimp plant

Huy Thuan Seafood Processing Joint Stock Co has begun work on a new shrimp export processing plant in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Ben Tre's Giao Long Industrial Park.

The plant, which will cover 1.7ha, will produce 7,000 tonnes of product a year. Investment capital is VND323 billion (US$15.4 million).

This is the company's second processing plant and the fourth project to be constructed in Giao Long IP in 2011. The new plant will open in August next year.

Delta exports 5.8m tonnes of rice

Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces have exported 5.8 million tonnes of rice so far this year. It was valued at US$2.8 billion.

Asian and African markets were the top rice consumers, taking 80 per cent of the region's total rice export.

This year, all three seasonal crops were robust at harvesting. The region's paddy output is estimated to reach 22.8 million tonnes this year, an increase of nearly 1.3 million tonnes compared to last year.

VietnamPost embraces audio-visual

The Postal Corporation of Viet Nam (VietnamPost) and Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG) have signed a co-operation agreement.

With the implementation of transportation services, warehousing and distribution equipment of AVG, VietnamPost will collect subscription fees at Post or AVG client houses.

VietnamPost will become agents for AVG digital signal receivers (set-top-box).

Maritime Bank joins ADB network

The Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed an Issuing Bank Agreement.

This means the Maritime Bank will become a member of ADB's trade finance programme which provides guarantees and loans to partner banks in support of international trade.

ADB will also provide Maritime Bank with credit lines.

Techcombank goes global

Techcombank was granted Straight Through Processing Awards by Citibank, one of the leading US banks, last Thursday.

Techcombank was appraised for the quality of its services and accuracy in international payments.

This year, Techcombank has received awards from the Journal of Finance and other prestige publications such as Finance Asia Magazine and the Asian Journal of Banking&Finance.

Calendar market heats up despite high prices
 
The large-sized tear-off calendar market for 2012 has managed to attract many consumers despite high prices, according to traders.

Since the middle of October, calendars have gone on display in many stores on the main streets of both Ha Noi and HCM City.

According to a shopowner on Ha Noi's Lang Street, since the start of this month his store has sold 3,000 large tear-off calendars, most priced from VND350,000 (US$16) to VND580,000 ($27) each.

An online-trader, in addition, said that he had managed to sell 15-17 such calendars per week.

Traders revealed that, although prices were high, large-sized tear-off calendars had remained a favourite among consumers as presents or convenient forms of decoration.

Unlike with large tear-off calendars, not many people have shown concerns about wall and desk calendars due to poor design.

Most traders agreed that designs, including countryside landscapes, Vietnamese Lunar New Year festivities and famous sites from around the world, had remained largely the same, causing low demand.

A shopowner on HCM City's Trieu Quang Phuc Street, said that her consumption had gone down by 20 per cent against last year, in part due to a 20 per cent increase in prices resulting from upped costs associated with ink, paper and labour.

With such an increase, current prices range from VND15,000 to more than VND1 million ($47) per calender.