A share ownership dispute has erupted among members of the family that holds the majority stake in Nam A Commercial Join Stock Bank. Last week, Nguyen Chan, 96, the husband of Tran Thi Huong, who died in 2017, and one of the founders of Nam A Bank and Hoan Cau Group, claimed that one of his sons had misappropriated his shares and assets.

Nguyen Chan, one of the founders of Nam A Bank and Hoan Cau Group, has accused his son of misappropriating all the shares and assets of the family – PHOTO: GIAO THONG NEWSPAPER

Chan said at a press briefing in HCMC on March 15 that in mid-2016, his wife Huong had taken ill, so she asked her son, Nguyen Quoc Toan, 49, to take the helm of Nam A Bank and Hoan Cau Group. However, the couple was still retaining the ownership of their shares in the two entities and others, reported the local media.

Chan claimed that his son had colluded with other individuals to misappropriate all the couple’s shares and assets, worth an estimated VND30 trillion (US$1.2 billion).

They included shares in Nam A Bank, the subsidiaries of Hoan Cau Group and other companies in the form of capital contributions and share purchases.

Chan said that he had already lodged a complaint to the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People’s Procuracy,  the National Assembly Justice Committee, the Government Inspectorate, the State Bank of Vietnam, and the State Securities Commission of Vietnam.

Tran Ngoc Tam, general director of Nam A Bank, said in a statement one day later that the share ownership dispute had made headlines in the local media.

However, he said that the dispute was a civil issue not related to the business operations of the bank.

He added that the bank is a public company operating in a transparent manner in compliance with the prevailing regulations.

Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank was officially put into operation on October 1992 and was one of the first commercial banks to be established after the Banking Ordinance was issued in 1990 in the context of economic reforms in Vietnam.

As of late 2018, the total assets of the bank had reached more than VND75 trillion, a 40% rise against 2017, while its profits doubled year-on-year to nearly VND750 billion.

SGT