Sacombank chairman resigned

Founder and chairman Dang Van Thanh unexpectedly resigned last Friday. Thanh was replaced by standing deputy chairman Pham Huu Phu, the Ho Chi Minh City-based bank announced the same day.

The new chairman told VIR that Thanh and his son Dang Hong Anh were summoned by the police as part of an investigation into their management and operations.

Thanh, who has just come back to Vietnam after medical treatment overseas, would no longer sit in the Sacombank board of directors, from November 5, 2012, Phu said.

“I believe Thanh’s resignation will not hit Sacombank seriously. If there are some effects, they will be minor and depositors will not rush to withdraw their money. Moreover, the transfer of power has been made public [since the Sacombank annual general meeting in May], thus people will keep calm.

After some banking chaos recently, people have believed in the State Bank’s operations.

“Our liquidity is now in good condition because we have enough cash and gold available for the worst situation when people rush to withdraw money. The State Bank pledged to help us when necessary,” Phu said.

“The changes in our top management have not affected Sacombank’s operations. The newcomers are already in their places to run the bank smoothly. We’re accelerating the establishment of a subsidiary bank in Laos to replace the operating branch there,”  the new chairman added.

Sacombank shares dropped 3.11 per cent to VND18,700 ($0.9) per share last Friday.

Vietcombank shares closed at VND22,000 ($1.06), down 4.76 per cent to close at VND22,000 ($1.06) per share. VietinBank lost 1.75 per cent to close at VND16,800 ($0.8). Eximbank was down 3.3 per cent to VND14,600 ($0.7). Asia Commercial Bank dropped 4.61 per cent to VND14,500.

Shares of Bourbon Tay Ninh, Vietnam’s biggest publicly traded sugar company, were down 4.5 per cent to close at VND16.900 ($0.81) last Friday, a day after the company’s chairwoman Huynh Bich Ngoc resigned. Ngoc is Thanh’s wife and their daughter Dang Huynh Uc My took her mother’s post.

Sacomreal, the real estate company of Sacombank with their son Dang Hong Anh as chairman, stated Anh had sold 21.45 million Sacomreal shares in late October to hold 9.9 per cent of the property developer. Sacomreal shares dropped 5.6 per cent to VND5,100 ($0.24) per share, just half of the face value.

Thanh founded Sacombank in 1995 and served as the chairman until last week. At the Sacombank annual general meeting six months ago, he named new CEO Phan Huy Khang as the new legal representative to replace him. After that, he authorised management to standing deputy chairman Phu for personal reasons.

Phu was standing deputy chairman of Eximbank, also based in Ho Chi Minh City, before he joined the Sacombank board in May.

In the first 10 months of 2012, Sacombank posted a pre-tax profit of VND2,259 billion ($108.6 million), equivalent to 66 per cent of its whole-year target. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio was just 1.26 per cent. Its total assets were VND149,689 billion ($7.19 billion), up 7 per cent against the end of last year. Its January-October credit growth was 9.1 per cent against the end of 2011.

Phu said Sacombank was negotiating with some foreign institutions on selling a 15 per cent stake for the position of a strategic shareholder. “If things go smoothly, the final results could come within the next four or five months.”