The newly-introduced Law on Commercial Arbitration, effective from January 1 next year, is expected to engineer more effective commercial dispute settlements in Vietnam

The newly-introduced Law on Commercial Arbitration, effective from January 1 next year, is expected to engineer more effective commercial dispute settlements in Vietnam

Vietnam will remove its rural commercial joint-stock banks, with the central bank’s rules requiring the unification of the rural banks with urban commercial joint-stock banks nationwide in the period to 2010 as the first step in preparation for the sector’s global integration.

A new move by the Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) to hike interest rates for savings in Vietnamese dong could spark a new interest rate war among local commercial banks, which have been under pressure to raise their rates amid fund shortages and rising prices.

The UK’s Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) has outbid its foreign rivals to acquire an 8.56 per cent stake in Vietnam’s second-largest joint-stock commercial bank, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

Foreign banks and financial institutions have expressed interest in buying into Vietnam’s second-largest joint stock commercial bank, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), according to a senior ACB executive.

A commercial centre in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City’s Chinese quarter threw open its doors last week and is set to add a five-star hotel, restaurants and other facilities soon.

Five local commercial banks have agreed to bankroll part of a $32.9 million twin tower in Hanoi, to be developed by Vietnam General Commercial Joint Stock Company (Vincom).

A long-awaited draft regulation on joint-stock commercial banks (JSCB) listing on the stock market is set to be finalised by the State Bank soon, paving the way for banks to float on the bourse.

The Ministry of Finance is to channel more than $103 million from the sale of government bonds to the five biggest state-run commercial banks by the end of this month. The banks to receive the capital are the Vietnam Foreign Trade Bank (Vietcombank), Vietnam Industrial and Commercial Bank (Vietincombank), Vietnam Bank for Investment and Development (BIDV), the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (VBARD) and Mekong Delta Housing Bank (MHB).