Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan is considering hiking its ownership at Vietnam Export Import Bank (Eximbank) if the restructuring of Eximbank is successful, said Yutaka Moriwaki, an Eximbank board member.

Yutaka Moriwaki told the Daily that SMBC which holds 15% of Eximbank’s chartered capital is supporting Eximbank’s restructuring.

Eximbank has also established a new sales division in charge of large customers and foreign direct investment enterprises, reduced the number of deputy general directors and hired consulting firms to improve lending practices and the well-being of staff.

In addition, SMBC has sent seven experts to Vietnam to help Eximbank with its restructuring. SMBC has no plans to divest from Eximbank but will even acquire more shares of Eximbank, even exceeding the foreign ownership limit if SMBC gets the State Bank of Vietnam’s permission, said Yutaka Moriwaki.

Despite some positive results, SMBC will make a decision hiking its ownership at Eximbank when the restructuring of Eximbank brings positive results.

In a related development, Eximbank general director Le Van Quyet last week said the bank would divest from Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) this month. Eximbank currently holds nearly 50 million shares of Sacombank compared to 165 million shares or 8.75% in 2012 and has fetched VND400 billion from the divestment.

Eximbank obtained pre-tax profit of over VND1 trillion last year, 2.5 times higher than in 2016 and 169% higher than targeted. The Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) would remove the EIB stock of Eximbank from its watchlist soon as the bank has cut its accumulated losses over the past two years, said Quyet.

SGT