An analysis by Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC) has found that Vietnamese banks’ shares have better returns than shares of foreign banks.

“Up to now, this has been an unhappy year for shareholders of many large banks … unless they have invested in banks in Viet Nam,” VDSC’s report about securities investment strategy in October said.

Looking at fluctuations in the share prices of 32 banks in different regions, including Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, VDSC’s analysis found that Vietnamese banks’ shares were a better investment.

Four Vietnamese banks that VDSC analysed, Vietcombank, Techcombank, BIDV and HD Bank all had positive year-to-date returns, from 5 per cent to 37 per cent.

Among foreign banks analysed, only JP Morgan Chase had returns of 8 per cent. The others were much lower.

Although admitting that comparing shares of banks operating in different countries would be somewhat pointless, VDSC said that stock prices were quite revealing.

VDSC said that the two factors which were the most important to share prices were the vision (development strategy) and trust of investors.

VDSC also said that in Viet Nam, the banking sector might see merger and acquisition deals in the next few years to enable weak banks to meet Basel 2 standards. — VNS