Transactions are taken at a SHB office. Its transaction office in Laos will be upgraded to be a bank on January 15. — Photo doanhnghiepvn.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) will open a wholly-owned subsidiary in Laos on January 15.

The new bank is being upgraded from a SHB transaction office, which was opened in Laos in 2012. It will have a charter capital of US$50 million.

SHB specialises in credit services, currency, gold trading and international payments. After merging with the Hanoi Building Bank, or Habubank, in August 2012, SHB's equity reached about VND9.5 trillion ($433.61 million) at the end of September 2015.

SHB is the third Vietnamese bank to open a subsidiary in Laos, after Vietinbank and Sacombank.

Laos has so far attracted US$22 billion in foreign direct investment from 54 countries and territories, such as Viet Nam, Thailand, China and France. —VNS