Vietnam’s banking sector has needed a reboot for some time. Impacted by bad debt, corruption and lax regulation, banks have not reached their potential. In response to the multiple problems, Vietnam is implementing a development strategy to strengthen the sector. The pressure is on banks to comply with new regulations, such as adhering to Basel II capital standards, but banks along with rating agencies generally have an upbeat view of Vietnam banking’s future.
Malaysia is amongst Southeast Asia’s most prosperous nations, with consistently high economic growth. It is also amongst the region’s most progressive; one of its top five banks, Hong Leong Bank, is leading the widespread adoption of digital solutions in finance. We were pleased to be joined by two of HLB’s senior executives, Domenic Fuda and Charles Sik, to discuss HLB’s newest strategies toward being “digital at the core”.
Vietnam’s Asia Commercial Bank is enjoying a turn-around that most financial institutions would gladly embrace, posting one of its best performance years in 2016. The private bank’s success may lie in its practice of setting ambitious goals and objectives, then following through by using its competitive advantages to achieve them, providing the personal but innovative service that its varied customers demand.
For investors with an appetite for high returns even if they are seasoned with high risk, investment in frontier markets, the smallest economies in the developing world, may be worth considering. The best approach is to allocate only a small portion of a portfolio to these potentially profitable but likely volatile markets.
Vietnam Prosperity Bank is living up to its name in more ways than one. This relatively young but highly ambitious and customer-pleasing bank has recently won numerous industry awards and is well on its way to realizing its goal of becoming one of the country’s top three retail joint-stock commercial banks.
In March 2015, Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) received the High Growth Rate in Trade Business Award from US banking giant Wells Fargo, recognising the Vietnamese lender’s strong growth record in
Vietnam’s banking sector began 2015 on a positive note, with Moody’s having upgraded the financial system from “negative” to “stable” in mid-December. According to the credit-ratings agency, the improvement reflected the “increased stability in the