Academic calls for banking industry reforms

August 01, 2011 | 17:36

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The Vietnamese banking sector needs to be reformed, Dr Huynh The Du, a lecturer affiliated to the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, has told Tuoi Tre.

Many commercial banks were small and handicapped by poor management and shallow pockets, and could not compete with foreign banks.

“We should set higher operating standards to eliminate unqualified commercial banks and financial institutions.”

Those banks that failed to meet the standards should be restricted to operating on regional or district levels.

“While there are many small banks in Vietnam, there is a lack of banks to provide microfinance to the poor.”

The financial sector was supervised by as many as four government agencies.
The State Bank of Vietnam oversaw banks, the State Securities Commission (SSC) of Vietnam monitored the stock market, the Ministry of Finance managed the insurance sector, and the National Financial Supervisory Committee seemed to consult more than supervise the financial sector.

“This is inappropriate since all of these sectors are included in the operations of commercial banks.”

The National Financial Supervisory Committee should be made the sole financial supervisor while the central bank should be an independent agency playing.

“The central bank will not be responsible for growth targets but only focus on the monetary economy. The government will focus on the economy, boosting production and creating more jobs.”