A Vietinbank transaction counter. The bank will list all shares owned by the State Bank of Viet Nam soon. — Photo cafef.vn

VietinBank General Director Le Duc Tho announced the plan in an online statement on January 13. He notified the State Securities Commission and the exchange in dispatches sent on the same day, after the SBV gave its nod for the listing last December.

According to the local press, VietinBank has a charter capital of about VND37.23 trillion (US$1.77 billion), the combined value of the 3.72 billion shares that are in circulation.

The SBV holds 64.46 per cent of the equity, or 2.4 billion shares, while the remainder is owned by other shareholders and already listed on the HCM City exchange.

Market observers said that with the additional listing, VietinBank shares will be the sixth most influential shares on Viet Nam's benchmark VN-Index, after the shares of PVGas, Vinamilk, Vietcombank and Vingroup, as well as Masan Group.

With VietinBank shares currently being traded at about VND15,500 ($0.74) per share on the southern bourse, the total market capitalisation value of the bank is approximately VND57.7 trillion ($2.75 billion), including that of the unlisted shares.

The Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi reportedly holds a 19.7 per cent stake in VietinBank, and the International Finance Corporation holds eight per cent of its equity.

On January 13, SBV also approved VietinBank's plan to upgrade its existing branch in Laos to a bank. The institution is located in Vientiane City's Chanthabouly District and will be renamed as VietinBank Lao Limited.

It will have a charter capital of US$50 million, all of which will come from the parent bank's budget. The SBV has given VietinBank 24 months to open the new entity.

Some other Vietnamese banks also received principle approval from the central bank to establish their wholly owned banks in Laos last year, by upgrading their existing branches there. These included Sacombank and the Sai Gon–Ha Noi Bank. — VNS