Sacombank board reshuffled

Two former Sacombank board members, Dang Van Thanh and Dang Hong Anh, still sit on the new board.

Eight new members were elected, with four coming from Southern Commercial Bank, one from ACB Securities Company, one from Viet Dragon Securities Corporation, one from Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Bank (Eximbank) and the general director of Sacombank.

Speaking to local media on the sidelines of the meeting, Sacombank chairman Dang Van Thanh said a listed bank should welcome new shareholders on the board and that happened when ANZ, IFC and Dragon Capital bought into the bank previously. Eximbank chairman Le Hung Dung, who represents a group of large shareholders, said the new board would maintain a good administration and promote the achievements gained by the bank at the helm of Dang Van Thanh.

Sacombank is doing good business with established facilities, and a network of 412 transaction points in the nation’s 63 provinces and cities. It has over 10,000 well-trained staff, 70,000 shareholders and several million clients.

Regarding the loss of Sacombank Securities Co. (SBS), Dung said an initial inspection had been launched and that market volatility was the main cause of the loss. Dung noted there would be solutions to shake up SBS, including a comprehensive audit of the stock brokerage and the selection of Eximbank’s head of internal audit department and other officers for SBS to restructure the securities firm.

A board member told the Daily on the sidelines that the group of large shareholders holds over 60% in Sacombank. Therefore, Dang Van Thanh will serve as Sacombank chairman for three more months before the bank holds an election to choose a new chairman.

Some shareholders asked if Sacombank and Southern Bank would merge as many leaders of Southern Bank are on Sacombank’s board. Answering the question, Dung said mergers and acquisitions (M&A) had become a trend in the banking system. However, an M&A deal must secure approval from shareholders, he said, and now there is no merger plan yet.

The meeting also approved other issues like profit distribution, M&A policy, transfer of a 15 per cent stake to foreign shareholders and issuance of bonds worth $200 million on the Singapore Exchange in the third quarter of this year.