On July 15 and 18, SCB reported the shutdown of 9 branches. The closures on July 15 affected 4 branches in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Dinh, while 5 additional branches in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, and Hai Phong were shut down on July 18.

According to VietNamNet’s statistics, SCB has shut down 91 branches nationwide since the arrest of Truong My Lan, a key figure in the Van Thinh Phat case.

In 2023 alone, 47 branches were closed, and in the first seven months of 2024, 44 more have been shut down. The peak was in June 2024, with 16 branches ceasing operations. October and December 2023 each saw 14 branches closed.

Truong My Lan, former Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group and a major shareholder of SCB, was indicted in October 2022. Following this, SCB faced mounting difficulties, particularly as customers demanded their rights over bonds arranged by the bank.

It wasn't until June 2023 that the bank began systematically closing multiple branches, with at least one closure announcement occurring each month since then.

Prior to the Van Thinh Phat scandal, SCB's network included 239 branches across 28 provinces and cities nationwide.

The number of closed SCB branches in just over a year now exceeds the number of awards the bank received. According to VietNamNet statistics, SCB was awarded 72 prestigious honors from 2015 to 2022, including titles such as "top" and "best in Vietnam."

In addition to branch closures, the bank has also announced the liquidation of 23 specialized cash transport vehicles and 27 used ATMs. The vehicles were first auctioned in January 2024 for a total of 3.987 billion VND. Due to a lack of buyers, the bank announced in June that the vehicles might be sold individually at unchanged prices, ranging from 127 to 220 million VND per vehicle.

The sale price of the ATMs has not been disclosed.

SCB currently has a charter capital of 20 trillion VND and is under special control by the State Bank of Vietnam. According to the Ministry of Public Security's investigation, Truong My Lan controls and owns a substantial majority of SCB shares, up to 91.5%.

Tuan Nguyen