HCMC – The Government has ordered the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to complete a restructuring plan for Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) before September 15, as part of broader efforts to overhaul the country’s banking sector.
According to a resolution adopted after the Government’s August regular meeting, the SBV is required to effectively carry out the compulsory transfer of weak banks currently under special surveillance.
The central bank must speed up capital increases for state-owned commercial banks, address bad debts, control high-risk lending, and strengthen inspection and supervision to prevent misconduct and group interests.
So far, four weak banks have undergone compulsory transfer.
Vietcombank has taken over CBBank (renamed VCBNeo), HDBank has acquired DongABank (now known as Vikki Bank), MB has taken over OceanBank (MBV), and GPBank has been transferred to VPBank. SCB, however, remains under special control and is still seeking investors.
The Government specifically requested that the restructuring plan for SCB be completed by September 15.
In addition, with core inflation remaining above 3%, strong credit growth, and volatility in gold prices and exchange rates, the Government tasked the SBV with proactively and flexibly managing monetary policy to ensure reasonable credit growth and meet capital needs for production and business.
The central bank must direct cost reductions to lower lending rates, manage exchange rates flexibly, and take strong measures to stabilize the gold market.
The Government also assigned the Ministry of Finance to implement a targeted expansionary fiscal policy, continue extending and reducing taxes, fees, charges, and land rents, assess risks from inflation, exchange rates, and the banking system, and report to the PM in September.
Meanwhile, the Government Inspectorate was tasked with coordinating the development of an inspection plan for credit, banking, and gold trading activities.
