Banks to see changes in high personnel

AT Eximbank, after Le Hung Dung, former chairman, quit, Pham Huu Phu, CEO and deputy chairman of the board, also quit, only after one year of returning to the bank.

The bank’s extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on December 15 decided on the personnel for the 2015-2020 period, with Le Minh Quoc, independent member of the board, elected as chairman.

But the bank has yet to appoint a CEO. Acting CEO Tran Tan Loc is looking at a possibility to be replaced at the next shareholders’ meeting. As of now, Eximbank has not announced information on the next meeting but a source said it is likely to be in April.

The market is wondering whether in this meeting Eximbank is going to add two former members of Nam A Bank to the board, because they are currently holding 20 per cent of Eximbank. The contenders were left out from the list of candidates for the board at the 2016-2020 of the extraordinary meeting for some reason, giving fertile ground for guesswork and speculation.

Before the shareholders’ meeting, many banks, such as Maritime Bank, Saigonbank, and Sacombank, have requested shareholders to vote for candidates of the board. MaritimeBank, for example, plans the addition of two members to the board at a shareholders’ meeting on April 14. Saigonbank is also going to add two more members to its board.

Sacombank’s shareholders’ meeting will take place in the second quarter. The market expects to see a lot of changes in high personnel after the meeting.

Tram Be, former deputy chairman of the board, has allowed the SBV, or any institution or individual authorised by it, to have shareholders’ right with all the shares that he’s holding after Sacombank is merged with another bank. The SBV is going to handle all the shares now held by Tram Be and associates and is going to assign a new management to Sacombank after the merger.

It is expected that a government representative is going to join the board of Sacombank after the annual shareholders’ meeting in April, along with a new CEO. Some stakeholders guessed that it would be someone from a bank with state holdings, while others were of the opinion that it would be someone from the SBV.

The SBV aims to merge banks to eliminate cross-ownership and “make the system healthier.”

SBV Governor Nguyen Van Binh said that the scale of Vietnam’s economy necessitated only about 15 banks. In 2016 all banks have to meet international requirements in risk management and chartered capital requirements outlined in Vietnamese regulations—falling short, the only recourse would be M&A. If a bank cannot increase its chartered capital, the SBV will buy a stake in order to join in its management.