HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) was, last week, allowed by the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to open a representative office in Moscow, Russia.

The BIDV is the sole Vietnamese bank to have its representative office in Russia.

The BIDV's Chairman Tran Bac Ha said the office would help spur economic, trade and investment co-operation between Viet Nam and Russia. It will collect information, conduct market research, establish co-operative relations and serve as a bridge to connect BIDV and relevant agencies, partners and potential and existed clients in Russia.

The bank planned to set up a subsidiary bank in Russia at a suitable time, Ha added.

BIDV has paid special attention to the Russian market. Since 2006, it has co-operated with VTB – one of Russian biggest banks – to establish a Viet Nam-Russia Joint Venture Bank (VRB). It has also set up relations with more Russian commercial banks and financial institutes.

Also, on the occasion, BIDV and VTB launched two-way payment channels which was a bottleneck for trade between the two countries over the past year. — VNS