A customer at a SeABank office in the northern province of Thanh Hoa. The bank has been recorgnised has having met the Basel II international standards, allowing it to prevent credit, market and operational risks as well as other risks that may occur during its operation. — Photo Viettimes

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has recognised the Southeast Asia Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SeABank) as having met the minimum capital adequacy ratio according to Basel II international standards.

Basel II requires banks to have a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of at least 8 per cent.

With this move, SeaABank is capable of preventing credit, market and operational risks as well as other risks that may occur during its operation.

SeABank has recently completed the increase of its charter capital to nearly VND9.37 trillion (US$403 million). According to Moody’s, one of the world’s three most prestigious credit rating organisations, the bank is rated B1 (long-term stable).

The recognition of Basel II standards will help SeABank have more advantages in implementing business administration, gradually developing new business models and improving risk management capacity.

This is also an important premise for SeABank to continue growing strongly, soon fulfilling its goal of becoming the most popular retail bank.

The SBV in 2016 set a deadline of January 1, 2020 for 17 banks to meet Basel II norms under a national banking sector development strategy.

All banks nationwide will have to adopt Basel II by 2025 and then switch to the advanced version.

The SBV has so far allowed 10 banks to adopt Basel II standards earlier than the 2020 deadline. They are Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank), Military Bank, Viet Nam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank), Asia Commercial Bank, Viet Nam International Bank, Maritime Bank, and Viet Nam Prosperity Bank, TPBank, OCB, and HDBank. — VNS