Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) expected to increase its holding in Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) from the current 17.7 per cent to 50 per cent of the bank’s charter capital, according to the group’s vice chairman Eiichi Yoshikawa.

Yoshikawa made the statement at a recent meeting between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Japanese firms.

Responding to Yoshikawa, Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam Le Minh Hung said that raising VietinBank’s capital was necessary to ensure the bank’s financial status.

Hung said the Vietnamese Government welcomed foreign investment in Vietnamese banks, especially in weak banks where there was no foreign ownership limit and investors could hold up to 100 per cent of the banks’ charter capital.

According to the current regulations, the foreign ownership limit at Vietnamese banks is capped at 30 per cent of the banks’ charter capital.

In the case of VietinBank, it was feasible for MUFG to increase its holding in the bank as the World Bank’s International Finance Corp was seeking a buyer for its 8 per cent stake in Viet Nam’s third-largest lender by market value, Bloomberg reported.

SBV currently owns 64.5 per cent of VietinBank, while MUFG is the second-biggest shareholder with a 19.7 per cent stake. MUFG acquired the 19.7 per cent stake in VietinBank for US$742 million in 2013.

It is estimated that foreign investors have poured some US$2.2 billion into Vietnamese banks since the beginning of 2010. — VNS