VietNamNet Bridge - The bankers that were seriously criticized by the local press in 2015 were those that managed banks involved in bad debt scandals.

 

Trust Meltdown 2016, a report of Media Tenor released at this year World Economic Forum in Switzerland, showed that in 2015 Vietnamese mass media gave big favor to Vietnamese bankers.

Though there are many foreign banks operating in Vietnam, they were not listed among the group of 10 banks mentioned most in the press.

While this shows the ‘national spirit’ which can help Vietnamese bankers compete with multinational banking groups, this also means difficulties for any foreign bank which want to penetrate the Vietnamese market.

However, the positive images on local mass media and high frequency were not enough to help the Vietnamese banking system.

The report pointed out that Can Van Luc, a banking expert from BIDV, one of the largest state invested banks, was mentioned the most: he appeared in 8 percent of articles about banking. In most cases, the articles were ‘neutral’, while there were other positive comments.

In 2015 Vietnamese mass media gave big favor to Vietnamese bankers.

Luc was praised by the local press for his position of senior advisor to BIDV’s president and director of BIDV School. He was once a senior researcher at Kennedy School of Harvard University and researcher of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program.

Meanwhile, the bankers who came under heaviest criticism in 2015 were those managing banks involved in scandals.

These included Pham Cong Danh, former president of the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB), and Nguyen Minh Thu, former president of Ocean Bank. 

Both of the banks have been taken over by the State Bank at zero dong in a compulsory restructuring campaign initiated by the State Bank.

Tran Phuong Binh, former CEO, of Dong A Bank, was also one of them. He was believed to have made wrong decisions when he was CEO that led to serious consequences. 

However, the local press seemed to handle Binh less roughly than other bankers, because Binh sent a letter to customers, shareholders and the bank’s staff, admitting his mistakes.

Dong A Bank violated regulations on financial management, credit and other business activities in the years before 2012, which seriously affected its financial position.

The SBV in mid-2015 said it would dismiss or suspend many of Dong A Bank’s leaders and coordinate with law enforcement agencies to deal with those having caused losses.

Some other bankers received more positive remarks from the public and mass media. They were Tran Ngo Phuc Vu, former member of Nam A Bank Board of Directors, and Tran Ngoc Tam, former deputy CEO of Nam A Bank.


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