VietNamNet Bridge - The government’s lifting of the foreign ownership ceiling in Vietnamese commercial banks has been a hot topic on all securities trading floors in recent days.

The Prime Minister has ratified Decree 60/2015 to replace Decree 58, which included a long-awaited regulation on removing limits on foreign ownership in listed companies.

VietNamNet Bridge - Commercial banks which have not listed their shares on the bourse by the end of 2016 may be forced to undergo restructuring or merge with other institutions.

VietNamNet Bridge - The competition for shares of banks in the top 10 is getting stiffer: new buyers all are big tycoons with powerful financial capability.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has warned that the state budget will lack VND32 trillion this year because of the cap the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has set on the amount of government bonds commercial banks can buy.

VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign banks, especially those from Asia, have been strengthening their investment in Vietnam in recent years.

VietNamNet Bridge - The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has said that dividends each commercial bank can pay to their shareholders must not be higher than 9 percent.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF), which is drafting a decree on public debt management, plans to remove the policy on giving government guarantees for loans from financial institutions.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Breakthrough decisions are needed to bring optimism and prosperity to the economy in 2015, economic expert Le Trong Nhi told Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of firms are interested in acquiring a stake in Vietnam Motors Industry Corporation (Vinamotor), Vietnam’s biggest bus manufacturer,  as soon as the government issues its permission

VietNamNet Bridge – Commercial banks have too many functions in Vietnam, from providing loans to businesses to funding long-term infrastructure projects, from lending to fund securities investments to trading government bonds.

Commercial banks said that 2015's Tet (Lunar New Year) festival has been the most easy so far, in terms of liquidity, and even though it is around the corner, according to Dau Tu Chung Khoan

 VietNamNet Bridge – Marriages between banks and financial firms are forecast to be vibrant this year, but industry experts assume such deals could bring banks both advantages and disadvantages.

VietNamNet Bridge – Foreign investors’ excess of sales over purchases in the stock market have been attributed to the appreciation of the US dollar.

VietNamNet Bridge – Analysts believe that 2015 will be the “year of bank merger & acquisitions”, especially for banks in danger of a “merge or die” situation.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Commercial banks have seen significant changes in leadership regularly over the last two years.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The stock market has been stirred up with the news that credit institutions’ loans to investors to fund their stock investment must not be higher than 5 percent of the institutions’ chartered capital.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The bi-annual Autumn Economic Forum 2014 held in the northern province of Ninh Binh last Saturday was seeking fresh ways to speed up Viet Nam's economic restructuring process.

 The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) Governor has approved a plan for restructuring of 11 of the 14 joint stock commercial banks in HCM City.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese monetary market and bank operations have been stable over the last two months, since the day China illegally deployed its oil rig in the Vietnamese territorial waters.