After being postponed many times, Eximbank has announced it will hold an extraordinary and annual general meeting of shareholders in July.

Disputes at Eximbank have exploded over the past three years.

Conflicts between groups of shareholders at Eximbank has lasted for nearly a decade but it has been the most tense in the past 3 years. The extraordinary general meeting of shareholders has not been held since 2019. The proposals of two groups of strategic shareholders, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (holding 15%) and Ms. Ngo Thi Thuy’s group (over 10%), have not been approved yet.

In 2019, Eximbank postponed its general meeting of shareholders three times for various reasons such as lacking necessary number of shareholders, internal issues not yet resolved and more. In the past 5 years, Eximbank successfully held only one annual shareholders’ general meeting in 2018, but the results amounted to nothing.

Failing to hold the shareholders’ general meeting for three consecutive years, Eximbank did not report its business results in 2018, its business plans for 2019, 2020 and some other content. So far, the bank’s 2019 business results and the plans for 2020 and 2021 have not been approved by the shareholders’ general meeting. The biggest problem is still the dispute over the bank’s chairmanship.

The dispute at Eximbank erupted on March 22, 2019 after seven members of Eximbank's Board of Directors met and elected a new Chairman, Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu, to replace Mr. Le Minh Quoc even though Quoc's term had not expired yet. Tu is a representative of NamABank, who used to be NamABank General Director. Tu joined Eximbank's Board of Directors in April 2018 at the bank's shareholders’ general meeting.

Quoc has filed a lawsuit to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court but later withdrew the petition and resigned from the position of Eximbank Chairman. Mr. Cao Xuan Ninh was then elected as Eximbank chairman.

Meanwhile, the CEO position has been vacant for a long time. In April 2018, Mr. Nguyen Canh Vinh was appointed as the bank’s Deputy General Director. In May 2019, Vinh was promoted as Acting CEO of Eximbank, after the previous CEO, Mr. Le Van Quyet’s contract expired and was not reappointed.

Eximbank's Board of Directors issued a resolution to appoint Vinh as the CEO but the State Bank of Vietnam did not approve it, saying the resolution and the submitted documents were invalid.

On June 25, 2020, Eximbank held a meeting to elect Mr. Yasuhiro Saitoh - then holding the position of Vice Chairman - to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors, replacing Mr. Cao Xuan Ninh who resigned.

However, before the shareholders’ meeting scheduled on June 30, 2020, a group of major shareholders (SMBC) requested the dismissal of Yasuhiro Saitoh. According to SMBC, this organization had terminated all legal relationships with Yasuhiro Saitoh since May 18, 2019, so he was not eligible to represent SMBC at Eximbank.

On April 13, 2021, within an hour two decisions to appoint the bank’s Chairman were issued, with conflicting content.

According to Resolution No. 156/2021/EIB/NQ-HĐQT dated April 13, Eximbank's Board of Directors approved the dismissal of Yasuhiro Saitoh from the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors. At the same time, the bank assigned Mr. Nguyen Quang Thong to temporarily hold the Chairmanship to chair the meeting of the Board of Directors on April 13, 2021 until the bank elects a new Chairman. The Board of Directors assigned Thong to sign the Resolution on the dismissal of Yasuhiro Saitoh from the Chairmanship on behalf of the Board of Directors, based on the resignation letter of Yasuhiro Saitoh dated April 6, 2021.

Accordingly, Resolution No. 156 on the dismissal of Yasuhiro Saitoh, signed by Thong, based on the vote of members of the Board of Directors at the meetings held at 10. 15am and 10.45am on April 13, 2021 was issued. But soon after that, Resolution 157 on the election of Yasuhiro Saitoh as Eximbank Chairman, signed by Yasuhiro Saitoh, based on the vote held at the meeting of the Board of Directors at 11:10 am on April 13, 2021, was issued.

V. Ha

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