Banks prepare to face change-motivated shareholders

The source said a management shake-up is likely to be among the bank’s hottest issues. Another is its option being a merger with a smaller bank.

Sacombank has released its Board of Director Resolution covering issues like the 2013 dividend, use of fund certificates and capital surplus, and making space for a foreign investor.

Conversely, Southern Bank has yet to unveil the date of its annual GSM, only saying it would be released 15 days after the final shareholder list was released (February 26) of 2014 GSM attendees.

Last year Southern Bank saw poor results, only reaching 50 per cent of its profit target (VND650 billion or $31 million) for the first nine months of the year and bad debts rising to 4 per cent.

Similarly, Eximbank only achieved 30 per cent of its profit target (VND3.2 trillion or $152 million) last year, with large funds going to debt provisioning against mounting overdue and/or irrecoverable loans.

According to Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) general director Vo Tan Hoang Van, the bank will put all its resources toward finalising its restructuring by the end of 2014.

When it announced its annual GSM would be held on March 17, SCB said it would seek shareholder approval to raise its chartered capital by around VND2 billion ($96 million) from VND12 trillion ($571 million) to accelerate restructuring.

Not only SCB, but other banks such as Navibank, Western Bank and Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) are slated for restructuring under State Bank (SBV) requirements.

These banks have worked on their reshuffling plans and got them approved by the SBV, but have not made public how they were implemented.

Capital hikes were reported to be a hot issue for many GSMs this year amid economic hardships and bank stocks tumbling during ongoing restructuring.

SBV governor Nguyen Van Binh said mergers and acquisitions are the only options for smaller banks to survive and ensure their development given current market conditions.