Eximbank brings in key personnel to tackle series of fraud scandals

Nguyen Huong Minh, new deputy general director of Eximbank

Eximbank (Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Export Import Bank) has just announced the appointment of Nguyen Huong Minh as deputy general director in charge of information technology and operations since June 1. He is a master in business administration and has 16 years of banking experience.

Nguyen Huong Minh was SeABank’s deputy general director cum director of operations and technology since August 2017. Minh also worked at VPBank (Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank) and Techcombank (Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Commercial Bank) before.

This is the second high-level person to be transferred from SeABank to Eximbank in the last two months. Earlier, on April 11, Eximbank appointed Nguyen Canh Vinh (1974) as permanent deputy general director. He was director of the transaction center of Techcombank’s headquarters, then moved to SeABank as general director until February.

Eximbank’s Board of Directors has eight people currently, including Le Van Quyet as general director, and seven deputy general directors. The appointment of the two general directors is Eximbank's newest move to fill in the void left by its nine departing deputy general directors who left in August 2017. Four of them quit on their own volition, while five of them were demoted to serve as directors of centres, divisions or departments.

Earlier, between 2012 and 2017, there were numerous cases of fraud committed by Eximbank officers who appropriated client’s money. Nguyen Thi Lam, an officer of Eximbank’s Do Luong branch (in Nghe An province) stole more than VND50 billion ($2.2 million) from various customers. Dozens of Eximbank officers related to this case have been prosecuted and arrested.

In another case, Le Nguyen Hung, former deputy director of an Eximbank branch in Ho Chi Minh City appropriated more than VND245 billion ($10.8 million) from Chu Thi Binh, a longtime client of the bank who used to be the richest woman on the stock market.

Several years has passed since these clients were swindled out of their savings. The bank stands firm in its decision to wait out the conclusion of the investigation agency and the court before issuing compensation to these customers.

The new key personnel are expected to come up with better solutions for these cases of fraud as well as provide measures to limit cases of fraud and raise Eximbank’s reputation.