Motorcyclists ride at a residential quarter in Hanoi. Photo credit: AFP Many banks have stepped up lending to the housing sector amid a revival in the market, bringing uncomfortable reminders of the property bubble that burst not too long ago. Techcombank and ACB are offering loans of up to 70 percent of an apartment’s value to buyers for 20-25 years. Vietcombank has set aside VND10 trillion (US$458.5 million) for lending to home buyers. As of May end outstanding loans to the property sector were 10.89 percent higher year-on-year, compared to an overall 5 percent credit rise for the banking sector, deputy governor of the central bank, Nguyen Thi Hong, said. Pham Sy Liem, deputy head of the Vietnam Federation of Civil Engineering Association (VFCEA), said banks are lending more to the sector because it is reviving. In the first half of this year the market saw more than 14,000 transactions. Earlier this year Vietinbank, the country’s largest partly private lender, … [Read more...] about As banks increase lending to property sector, fear of bubble returns
Lending club foreign investors
VIB to provide foreign exchange services
In Briefs (30-04-2009) VIB to provide foreign exchange services HA NOI — The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has allowed the Viet Nam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank to provide foreign exchange services. VIB will be permitted to conduct foreign exchange services as follows: spots, forwards, futures, options and other types of FX transactions in line with international practices. The bank will also deal with mobilisation, lending and guaranties in foreign currencies in various forms set by the SBV, acting as the issuer and issuing agent of international payment cards, domestic and international remittances and settlements, acceptance of and payments in foreign currencies and discounting and rediscounting valuable papers in foreign currencies. CPCNet Hong Kong provides Virtual Private Network HA NOI — Viet Nam Data Communications Company (VDC) and CPCNet Hong Kong Ltd signed a co-operation agreement on providing the Virtual Private Network (VPN) in Viet Nam. A VPN is a … [Read more...] about VIB to provide foreign exchange services
State enterprises fail to meet deadline
by Thuy Anh Although the State-owned Enterprise Law, which was designed to regulate wholly state-invested firms, expired last Thursday, many SoEs have not yet changed their status to one-member limited companies as required. Nguyen Kim Toan, head of the Government Office SoEs Renewal Department, said at a seminar in Ha Noi on June 29, only two days prior to the expiration, that 51 SoEs could not meet the requirement for various reasons. She said the major reason was their poor performance, which had resulted in losses. The Viet Nam National Sericulture Corp is one of the said companies. Another 14 farms and forestry plantations are also at the end of the tunnel due to problems related to land and other assets. Toan added that the Prime Minister had required completion before the new year. She said that on June 15 around 1,200 SoEs had not completed the process. She said that authorities would issue decisions on status change by July 1, but that was not an indication that it had been … [Read more...] about State enterprises fail to meet deadline
Experts explore potential products for securities market
HA NOI — The release of new products for the domestic securities market and related legal frameworks were discussed at a meeting held in Ha Noi on Thursday. At the meeting held by the State Securities Commission of Viet Nam (SSC), Nguyen Thanh Ky, general secretary of Viet Nam Association of Securities Business suggested that Ministry of Finance (MoF) and SSC should consider policies to help create more new products for the stock market. Suggestions include allowing an investor to sell and trade shares during the same session while being able to open more than one transaction account at different securities firms. Tran Thanh Tan, chairman of Club of Fund Management Companies proposed the SSC and MoF help develop the fund management sector. The MoF and SSI should issue a legal framework relating to an open-end equity fund model as this is considered a prerequisite to help fund management firms develop new products, Tan said Other policies are needed regarding other fund models, … [Read more...] about Experts explore potential products for securities market
Vietnam-US economic cooperation
Hanoi Times - Within the first decade after the 1975 end of the war, Vietnam's economy faced stagnation, with inflation hitting 700 percent in 1986 and a serious shortage of funds for investment. In that year, the Communist Party in its Sixth Congress approved a broad reform package, "Doi Moi" (or Renovation), that introduced market reforms and dramatically improved Vietnam's business climate. The country started shifting its central-planning economy based on the Soviet style toward a market-oriented mechanism.The country issued the law on foreign investment in Vietnam in 1987, which reaffirmed the market opening policy that provided a higher legal framework to help the country attract foreign investment.Over the past two decades ending in 2007, Vietnam has attracted $98 billion of foreign investment, of which operational projects totaled $83 billion. Foreign investment projects had yet to pick during the first three years of 1988-1990 since the law came into effect but the … [Read more...] about Vietnam-US economic cooperation