Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) has released the documents for its upcoming 2023 annual general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for April 21.

A significant agenda item is the proposed merger of a credit institution in Viet Nam, which MSB aims to leverage to increase its scale of operations and deploy its banking digitisation strategy.

According to the document, the credit institution that is expected to merge with MSB is a commercial bank with normal operations in Viet Nam, meeting the criteria of total asset value and equity at the average level in the market, and having good credit quality.

Although MSB leaders did not confirm rumours that the bank they intend to merge with is PG Bank, they also did not deny that PG Bank was one of the credit institutions they were interested in, a source on baodautu.vn said.

The leader of MSB stated that the trend of mergers in the banking sector is inevitable, and they are considering and choosing a bank that aligns with their development orientation to carry out the merger, thereby helping MSB to increase its scale more quickly.

The confirmation of the merger comes at a time when Petrolimex is preparing to divest from PG Bank, with an auction of 120 million shares, equivalent to 40 per cent of the charter capital at PG Bank, scheduled for April 7, with a starting price of VND21,300 (US$0.9) a share.

MSB's business plan for 2023 includes a pre-tax profit target of VND6.3 trillion ($267 million), representing a 9-per-cent increase compared to 2022. The bank also aims to increase its total assets by 8 per cent, reaching VND230 trillion and increase its credit balance by 15 per cent, reaching VND141.7 trillion. — VNS