Though the fiscal year 2019 is yet to end, early reports suggest major commercial banks in Vietnam will enjoy big fat earnings this year.

After the lending model collapsed in China, many P2P lenders flocked to Vietnam to seek opportunities in the country.

Rising medium- and long-term capital demands to meet stricter regulations on credit safety limits and capital adequacy early next year were putting pressure on commercial banks to issue bonds in the final months of the year, experts said.

The slow growth comes mainly from state-owned banks, which have become more stringent on their loan disbursements.

Commercial banks are expected to lower lending interest rates after getting more support to cut input costs from the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)’s...

Many M&A deals in the banking sector have wrapped up recently amid continued influx of foreign investment in Vietnam.

Some small banks in Vietnam are seeking investors from Asia such as South Korea, China and Japan.

The 11 top commercial banks have total assets of over $10 billion, while nearly 15 smallest banks have l total assets of less than VND100 trillion. The rankings of banks have changed a lot over the last decade.

More than 56 percent of banks recruited new workers in Q3, but 26.6 percent said they still lacked workers, while more than 61 percent of banks planned to recruit more workers in the fourth quarter, a report says.

A handful of winners have been named in a large-scale fintech challenge, providing inspiration and opportunities for many other fintechs to capture. 

‘Debtors’ in the future in Vietnam will regularly connect to the internet and buy goods online, while ‘lenders’ will be fintechs which can take full advantage of high technology to approach targeted clients and design reasonable credit packages.

VietNamNet Bridge - Economists agree that private investors should also be allowed access to official development assistance capital, but warn that credit may be used improperly. 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Huynh Quang Khanh invests in real estate by leveraging credit.

Foreign investment funds and technology firms have poured hundreds of millions of dollars in Vietnamese fintech firms in anticipation of an increase in non-cash payments in the country. 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Profits of many commercial banks this year will hit the highest levels since 2012 thanks to rising capital demand, experts have forecast.

VietNamNet Bridge - Dong and foreign-currency liquidity was plentiful throughout the year. The interest rate was stable at a five-year low while the dong/dollar exchange rate was also stable with the dong depreciating by 1.2 percent.

Commercial banks have pumped VND5,000 trillion into to the economy so far this year. But funds raised from banks through government bond issuances are still waiting to be disbursed.

While Vietcombank and VietinBank have proposed to lift the foreign ownership ratio ceiling to 35-40 percent to satisfy requirements of the Basel II Accord, ABBank and SCB want higher foreign ownership ratios to speed up the restructuring process.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Le Minh Hung, as soon as he took office, released two documents with instructions to settle commercial banks’ debts.

VietNamNet Bridge - Commercial banks are rushing to set up more branches and transaction offices after a long period of interruption.