HCMC – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is devising a plan to support the struggling Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) to get back to normal operations.
Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of the SBV, shared this information at a press conference on the banking sector’s performance held by the SBV today, April 19.
“The misconduct by SCB in the case involving Van Thinh Phat Group and Truong My Lan is caused by individuals,” he said. “These individuals were held accountable before the law.”
SCB currently faces a challenging situation, possibly even a crisis. Since October 2022, when a liquidity imbalance arose in SCB, the SBV has implemented measures to stabilize the bank’s operations and ensure the safety of the banking system.
SCB is not the first bank to encounter such difficulties; several others with poor performance were previously subjected to special surveillance and mandated restructuring.
Business tycoon Truong My Lan, chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group Corporation, was sentenced to death in the Van Thinh Phat financial fraud case on April 11.
The People’s Court of HCMC handed down sentences on Lan and more than 80 other defendants, after more than a month of trial.
The 68-year-old chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat was sentenced to 20 years in jail for violations of banking regulations, to death for embezzlement of assets, and 20 years behind bars for giving bribes. Her combined sentence is capital punishment.
Lan was found guilty of taking advantage of the Government’s plan for restructuring poor-performing banks to merge three commercial banks: Ficombank, TinNghiaBank and SCB. From 2012 to October 2022, she managed to hold majority ownership of SCB (85% to 91.5%), thus allowing her to manipulate SCB for personal gains.
