A new decree released by the Government will allow State-owned commercial banks to save cash to increase their strength instead of paying dividend to shareholders.
The Government’s plans to increase capital for large State-owned commercial banks in the first quarter of this year could be delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak, analysts predicted.
A plan to allow large Vietnamese State-owned commercial banks to pay dividends in shares or retain dividends would help them accumulate capital and meet regulatory minimum capital thresholds, Fitch Ratings said on Friday.
Authorities have basically agreed on a State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) proposal to allow large State-owned commercial banks to retain their dividends or pay them in shares to increase capital.
The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has urged relevant ministries to revise regulations allowing State-owned commercial banks to use the State budget to hike capital.
The Government is directing ministries and agencies to raise capital for State-owned commercial banks through the use of dividends or share sales this year.
The State Treasury holds deposits of nearly VND170 trillion (US$7.23 billion) in three State-owned commercial banks - Vietcombank, BIDV and VietinBank - by the end of June, down 28 per cent against deposits held in January.
In contrast to Vietcombank’s move to cut deposit interest rate a week ago, two other large State-owned commercial banks Vietinbank and BIDV this week announced they were raising the rate.
The health of credit institutions improved significantly in March, with
the value of their assets registering a sharp increase over February to
more than VND123.4 trillion (US$5.8 billion).
Non-performing loans totalled VND138.98 trillion (US$6 billion) by the
end of July, accounting for 4.58 per cent of commercial banks'' total
loans, according to the latest data from the State Bank of Viet Nam.
Several enterprises with healthy and transparent finances and effective
business plans have been given loans at a rate of only 6.5-7 per cent
per year, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam