VietNamNet Bridge – Changing top managers was a highlight of Vietnamese banks in 2015.

On December 11, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) announced that it would appoint Mr. Dao Trong Khanh as the General Director, replacing Ms. Tran Hai Anh. Khanh was previously Vice Chairman of the Maritime Joint Stock Bank (Maritime Bank).

Earlier, in October, Mr. Ta Ngoc Da – Vice CEO of Maritime Bank from May to October, replacing Mr. Atul Malik, suddenly "joined" the National Commercial Bank as the Deputy General Director. Thus two top officials of Maritime Bank have become NCB leaders.

At Maritime Bank, Mr. Huynh Buu Quang, a senior official of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC), became the General Director on October 8.

Quang replaced Atul Malik, who resigned from the CEO post in April 2015 for family reasons. However, Malik still supports Maritime Bank with a new role as senior advisor to the Executive Board.

At Eximbank, according to personal wishes, Mr. Pham Huu Phu officially left the CEO position from December 10. The same day, Mr. Tran Tan Loc, Standing Deputy General Manager, was appointed the acting general director.

On May 4, An Binh Bank (ABBank) unexpectedly changed its CEO when Mr. Pham Duy Hieu resigned for personal reasons. Hieu was replaced by Mr. Cu Anh Tuan, Deputy General Director. Before joining ABBank, Tuan worked at Techcombank.

At DongABank, Mr. Vo Hai Nam, Director of Credit Risk Management Division of BIDV, was appointed by the State Bank of Vietnam as General Director, replacing Mr. Tran Phuong Binh, who was suspended.

At the banks that were acquired for zero VND by the State Bank of Vietnam, all leaders were replaced.

Mr. Pham Huy Thong, Deputy General Director of VietinBank, was appointed CEO of GP.Bank.

In Oceanbank, on May 8, Mr. Do Thanh Son, Director of VietinBank HCM City’s Branch 11 was appointed as Chairman of Ocean Bank. Mr. Ngo Anh Tuan, Head of Credit and Investment Division of VietinBank, held the Director General position.

The inevitable wave of high-level personnel changes

Eximbank is one of the banks with big changes of senior personnel in recent times. According to its plan, this bank will hold an extraordinary annual meeting of shareholders on December 15 to elect senior personnel for the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board.

Following Eximbank, Lienvietpostbank will also have an important shift in its management board. It plans to organize an extraordinary meeting of shareholders in January 2016 to elect members of the executive board.

This bank wants to increase the number of the board from eight to nine people in 2015-2018 tenure and consult shareholders for the appointment of Mr. Pham Doan Son - who is CEO at present – to the new position. As soon as Son becomes a member of the executive board, the bank will have a new CEO.

The wave of personnel changes in the banking sector was quite strong in the past few years. However, 2015 is considered the year with the biggest change because it is associated with the period of restructuring of the banking system.

According to experts, the financial – banking market will continue to witness a wave of personnel changes in the future.

Nam Nguyen