SeABank lifts FOL to 5 per cent

August 16, 2021 | 17:44

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BRG Group's banking subsidiary SeABank has announced it would lift the foreign ownership limit ratio to 5 per cent to look for potential foreign investors.

A few months after going public, SeABank increases its FOL to 5 per cent

According to the Vietnam Securities Depository Center (VSD), SeABank (HSX: SSB) has issued an announcement on August 13 that it has adjusted its foreign ownership limit (FOL) ratio from 0 to 5 per cent.

The move is expected to pave the way for a potential tie-up with a strategic foreign investor.

SeABank is the banking arm of Vietnamese conglomerate BRG Group which operates across the fields of retail (BRG Mart), property (Le Grand Jardin, BRG Legend), hospitality (BRG Kings Island Golf Resort), among others.

Prior to the FOL raise, SeABank has officially gone public on the Ho Chi Minh City Exchange Rate (HSX) in March 2021, with a zero foreign ownership ratio.

Previously, SeABank issued 23.5 million of shares in an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), equivalent to 1.9244per cent of its charter capital.

As of June 30, SeABank saw its pre-tax profit reaching approximately VND1.56 trillion ($67.83 million), 2.3 times higher than in the same period in 2020. This figure equals 115 per cent of the bank’s target and equal to the full-year figure from last year. The cost to income ratio plummeted significantly to 38.3 per cent, in comparison to the first half of last year (52.1 per cent). SeABank’s non-performing loan ratio also diminished to 1.76 per cent. The bank is accelerating digitisation, with an emphasis on retail customers and small- and medium-sized enterprises to gain agility.

In 2021, the bank plans to increase its charter capital to VND16.598 billion ($721,650).

By Tri Lam

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