VietNamNet Bridge - Figures released by the State Bank of Vietnam and financial reports by commercial banks show that total charter capital of 35 Vietnamese commercial banks reached VND331.069 trillion by December 31, 2015.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese commercial banks have started the second phase (2016-2020) of restructuring which sets higher requirements in settling existing problems and improving competitiveness.

VietNamNet Bridge - Five years have elapsed since the day the State Bank released figures about banks’ bad debts, but the problem still has not been settled. Vietnam will need another five years to deal with it.

While Vietcombank and VietinBank have proposed to lift the foreign ownership ratio ceiling to 35-40 percent to satisfy requirements of the Basel II Accord, ABBank and SCB want higher foreign ownership ratios to speed up the restructuring process.

Sugar, palm oil and rubber, the three crops that Hoang Anh Gia Lai of Doan Nguyen Duc grows in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, have seen prices increasing in the context of a lower global supply due to climate change. 

VietNamNet Bridge - There are signs showing that Dang Van Thanh, a one-time tycoon, is returning to business with ambitious plans.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s foreign exchange reserves have reached a record high of some US$38 billion, excluding gold, the governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said.

VietNamNet Bridge - The State invests in many enterprises as a big shareholder, but it sometimes does not receive dividends from enterprises, even though they make big profits. 

The moves taken by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) recently, since the day the new Governor took office, show that obtaining high GDP growth rate is the top priority for the bank when regulating monetary policy.

VietNamNet Bridge - Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) find it difficult to get capital from the stock market or banks. They have to pay more for capital costs, because they are not priority subjects in capital contribution.

VietNamNet Bridge - The demand for capital for investment and development remains high, but 500 tons of gold kept by the people, a huge source of capital, has been forgotten.

The economists from VEPR (the Vietnam Centre for Economic and Policy Research) believe that even if the dollar interest rate decreases to a very low level, businesses would still prefer borrowing dong.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Le Minh Hung, as soon as he took office, released two documents with instructions to settle commercial banks’ debts.

VietNamNet Bridge - A series of banks have unanimously expressed their wish to lift the foreign ownership ratio ceiling, saying that the current ceiling of 30 percent is not high enough to attract investors to the banking sector.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many unfavorable conditions may make the 6.7 percent GDP growth rate target in 2016 unattainable, economists say. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The asset bubble due to massive capital inflow has brought disadvantages to Vietnam economy over the last decade, according to Dr Huynh The Du, director of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program (FETP).

While the Ministry of Construction (MOC) believes that ranking apartments will help define selling prices and provide information about apartment management fees, some analysts say other countries do not use such a system. 

Banking, finance and insurance employees had the highest income across all sectors in Viet Nam in 2014, with an average income of about VND195 million (US$8,660) per year.

Viet Nam saw US dollar deposits overseas skyrocketing, possibly due to foreign currency policies implemented by the central bank, the Viet Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) said.

VietNamNet Bridge - Nguyen Duc Kien, or ‘mogul Kien,’ and Tram Be once had long arms in the banking sector. But not now.