Dang Van Thanh lost in the battle for control over Sacombank five years ago, but he has returned to business and is prospering. However, the former winner in the bank battle – Tram Be – has been sentenced to prison.

As the owner of a hospital, securities company, bank and large properties, Tram Be, the banking tycoon, and his family amassed a huge fortune until the day he was arrested.

VietNamNet Bridge - The businessman Tram Be became even more famous after a hostile takeover deal in the banking sector, taking a key position at Sacombank and changing the fate of the bank.

Vo Truong Thanh, former president of Truong Thanh Furniture Group (TTF), and Tram Be, former deputy chair of Sacombank, have committed to compensate for losses incurred by their enterprises as a way to be responsible for their mismanagement.

VietNamNet Bridge - Nguyen Duc Kien, or ‘mogul Kien,’ and Tram Be once had long arms in the banking sector. But not now.

VietNamNet Bridge - 2015 was a climactic year for a lot of bankers. A number of them were arrested and prosecuted in criminal cases. 

VietNamNet Bridge - In the last few years, unfamiliar names have appeared in the banking sector.

 VietNamNet Bridge – As the big shareholders of both Southern Bank and Sacombank, the family of Mr. Tram Be is a "unique" case in the Vietnamese banking sector.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese tycoons have spent extravagant sums on their mansions, in a country with per capita income of just over $1,100 a year.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Southern Bank – Sacombank merger deal, once completed, would help Tram Be, one of the Vietnamese most influential tycoons in the banking sector, “kill two birds with one stone.”

Only billionaires can hold the controlling stakes of a commercial bank. Meanwhile, Tram Be and his family members are now the biggest shareholders of two banks – Sacombank and Southern Bank.