BIDV, Vietinbank, Vietcombank propose increasing foreign ownership limitation to 35%

Reducing the ownership of the State bank in their banks is another option.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, in order be more attractive, BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB) have proposed reducing the ownership of the State bank in their banks (95.28% at BID, 77.11% at VCB and 64.46% at CTG), as well as increasing the foreign ownership limitation (FOL) to above the current threshold of 30%. The CTG CEO has proposed a specific roadmap to increase FOL first to 35% then 40%.

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

The VCB chairman has also suggested increasing the banks’ general FOL to 35%. However, it is clear that even when the FOL of these banks is lifted, the State will likely still maintain a controlling interest of at least 51%.

In other words, we may expect that the FOL will be raised more significantly among the smaller banks. So far, Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) has proposed raising its FOL to 50%. If approved, this would be a key milestone in the development of the domestic banking sector.

Several banks also plan to list on the main board in order to improve transparency, as well as to further attract investors, especially foreign institutional ones. These include Techcombank, VP Bank before the end of the year, Maritime Bank (in 2017), and VIB Bank (in 2018).