Some banks have been given the green light from the State Bank of Viet Nam to enlarge their network size in the first days of Lunar New Year.

Bac A Bank has been given permission to open seven transaction offices and four branches in Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang, Ha Nam, Lam Dong, Lang Son, Ha Giang, Long An and Binh Dinh.

In the last quarter of 2018, the bank also gained approval to open five branches and 30 transaction offices across the country.

On February 14, SBV Governor Le Minh Hung also permitted LienVietPostBank to open five transaction offices in Ninh Binh and Thai Binh. The bank currently has more than 72 branches, 260 transaction offices and more than 1,300 post offices that also act as the transaction offices after its merger with the Postal Savings Services Company in 2011.

The SBV Governor is also expected to early allow other banks such as Vietcombank, VIB and OCB, which have so far met the central bank’s Basel II standards earlier than planned, to enlarge their network size.

The banks expect the expansion to help them seize the opportunity to increase market share this year.

Experts also said the transaction network had brought many advantages to some banks by enabling them to reach more customers and increase brand recognition. However, since some of the networks were too large, some would struggle to solve the problem of cost management. — VNS