"The management board has to study the issue and yet has no detailed schemes. We shall inform shareholders when an official partner is found," he said. "As we aim to become the No. 1 bank in Viet Nam, in terms of size and quality, this must be scrutinised with caution."

He added that any potential partner would have to be financially secure and have the ability to help the bank boost its scale, capital and network.

While Vietcombank shareholders had adopted the merger plan late last year, State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) Governor Nguyen Van Binh said in January that Vietcombank was set to merge with Saigonbank as part of the general banking reform.

Binh said all operational indicators at Vietcombank were healthy, but the bank needed to become more innovative to transform itself and overcome certain hindrances in its future development.

"In order to become the No. 1 bank in Viet Nam, Vietcom-bank has no other option but to take part in the restructuring process, together with the SBV – specifically through the merger with Saigonbank," he noted.

However, asked by shareholders today whether Vietcom-bank would merge with one of the five credit institutions in which it owned stakes, Thanh affirmed that the management board had not planned for that.

According to news website cafebiz.vn, the bank currently holds stakes of 4.37 per cent in Saigonbank and 5.07 per cent in Orient Commercial Bank, alongside 9.59 per cent in Military Bank, 8.24 per cent in Eximbank and 10.91 per cent in Cement Finance Company.

Thanh said, as new State regulations stipulated that a credit organisation was allowed to hold shares in no more than two other credit institutions, with a combined stake of 5 per cent at maximum, Vietcombank would gradually divest from those lenders.

He added that the State's stake in Vietcombank was expected to fall to 65 per cent in the future, from the current 77 per cent, as the bank planned to increase capital by offering other shareholders a greater ratio of its equity.

This year, the bank targeted a pre-tax profit of VND5.90 trillion (US$280.95 million), equivalent to last year's figure, and a dividend rate of 10 per cent. It also aimed to report a deposit growth of 12 per cent, lending growth of 13 per cent, and a bad debt ratio of below 2.5 per cent.

Its total asset value is expected to grow 11.5 per cent year-on-year to VND643 trillion ($30.62 billion) in 2015. 

VNS