Seeking foreign
strategic partners has not been listed as one of the important issues that bank
management boards want to consult to shareholders at this year’s shareholders
meetings.

Three years
ago, especially in 2007 and 2008, joint stock banks rushed to draw up the plans
to look for foreign strategic partners, because they believed foreign
shareholders would help improve the corporate governance and bring new banking
technologies which help bring fat profits.

In late
2008 and early 2009, when the global financial crisis broke out, An Binh Bank
wrapped up a deal on selling stakes to Malaysian Maybank. Vu Van Tien, Chair of
An Binh Bank was proud of the affair, considering this a “bright part” in the
financial investment activities in Vietnam in the context of the
crisis.

In 2010,
IFC, the International Financial Corporation, planned to obtain 10 percent of
the stakes of An Binh Bank.

In
September 2010, Commonwealth Bank from Australia wrapped up a plan to
invest in VIB Bank and became the foreign strategic shareholder. Chair of VIB
Bank, Han Ngoc Vu called the move an important factor for the new development
strategy of VIB Bank. The deal of selling stakes to Commonwealth Bank once
stirred up the public, because the share price at which VIB Bank sold to the
Australian partner was much higher than the prices of listing bank’s shares.

Earlier
this year, VietinBank announced that it had completed the sale of stakes to
IFC.

In recent
days, the investor’s attention has been put into Vietcombank, when the bank
reported it would complete the plan to seek foreign strategic partners this
year. In fact, the plan to seek foreign strategic partners was announced by the
bank three years ago.

Seeking
foreign strategic partners is a part of the plan to equitize the bank. People
have been waiting with impatience for the implementation of the plan over the
last few years. Being a big bank which has been famous in Vietnam,
analysts believed that it would be very easy to attract foreign investors.
However, to date, the bank still cannot find suitable foreign strategic
partners.

Not only
Vietcombank, but many other banks also still have not succeeded in seeking
foreign strategic partners, despite the strong determinations by the banks.
Especially, some banks have even set up the divisions in charge of looking for
foreign partners.

Nevertheless,
things seem to be quite different this year.

A manager
of Military Bank which once also tried to look for foreign strategic partners,
now said they do not think that foreign strategic partners are indispensable
for the bank any more. He said a lot of questions have been aroused which need
answers.

“What will
we get if we have foreign strategic shareholders? Will we be inferior to other
banks if we don’t have foreign strategic partners? Why haven’t we got foreign
strategic partners? That are the questions,” the manager said. “We finally
decided that having foreign strategic partners is not a must”.

According
to him, when a bank has foreign partners, it will get financial support, learn
banking technologies and experience in management. However, in reality, a lot
of Vietnamese banks still can smoothly increase their capital and operate well.
Especially, the business results of the Vietnamese banks are still better than
some other banks with foreign ownership.

“We still
have been standing firm in the face of difficulties for the last three stormy
years. Business and growth rate indexes are getting better year after year.
This means that we do not need someone else to take a seat in the management
board,” he said.

The thing
that makes Military Bank worried when choosing foreign partners is the possible
interest conflict, if the foreign partners are or will be 100 percent foreign
owned banks in Vietnam.
“How will we compete with the foreign banks, if they are also our partners?”
the manager said.

There are
now two choices for Military Bank: either to let foreign partners to join the
management board, or the bank needs to try to grow up itself. The bank is
considering choosing the second method by using available sources and hiring
foreign advisors when necessary.

Source: VnExpress