The Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) and the Viet Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC) signed a co-operation agreement in HCM City on Thursday.

Under the agreement, Sacombank and VAMC will co-operate to settle bad debts and outstanding assets of Sacombank that were sold to VAMC in accordance with the legal regulations stated in the National Assembly’s Resolution No 42/2017/QH14, which came into effect on August 15 this year and is designed to quickly and definitely settle bad debts and mortgaged assets for bad debts.

Sacombank and VAMC will collaborate closely in the development of a roadmap for bad debt settlement for every single year, accelerating the recovery of debts, with the initial goal in 2017 being to recover debt worth VND15-20 trillion (US$660-880 million). Sacombank will propose a list of bad debts sold to VAMC by special bonds and another list of bad debts traded in line with market prices.

In 2017, the two sides will consider trading bad debts in line with market prices, with value of at least VND1 trillion.

For bad debts that VAMC bought by special bonds, the two sides will evaluate and classify the debts to propose the most appropriate and effective solutions. At the signing ceremony, Sacombank and VAMC also signed a contract to purchase three debts under market prices with total value of more than VND2.58 trillion, with guaranteed assets including real estate projects, machinery and equipment in Da Nang City and HCM City.

The signing will also facilitate Sacombank to implement its post-merger restructure plan.

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has selected six credit institutions -- Sacombank, ACB, BIDV and Vietcombank, as well as VietinBank and Agribank -- to pioneer the implementation of Resolution No 42, aimed at speeding up bad debt settlement. — VNS