Ocean Bank finds new foreign owner
Ocean Bank finds new foreign owner
A source of VIR revealed that the zero VND Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Ocean Bank) has been sold to a foreign bank in Asia.
Although the buyers identity was undisclosed, the private source confirmed that the two sides are finishing the paper works.
One Member Limited Liability Global Petroleum Bank (GPBank ), another zero VND bank, may be sold to a consortium of a foreign financial institution and an investment and real estate development company.
The last zero VND bank, Vietnam Construction Bank (CBBank), is said to be implementing its restructuring plan before merging with a domestic bank.
Besides, DongA Joint Stock Commercial Bank (DongA Bank) is said to be merging with Ho Chi Minh City Housing Development Bank (HDBank).
At a press conference at the beginning of 2017, Nguyen Van Hung, deputy chief inspector of the State Bank of Vietnam’s Inspection and Supervision Agency, said that there would be solutions to address the five weak commercial banks, including three banks acquired by SBV for zero VND (CBBank, Ocean Bank, GPBank), DongA Bank, and Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Sacombank).
“Although these banks’ operating activities have been improved to avoid the collapse of the whole banking system, they need a complete overhaul,” Hung said.
Between the end of 2015 and October 2016, the bad debts of the three zero VND commercial banks declined by about 8 per cent. Of the total, the bad debts of Ocean Bank and GPBank significantly decreased. GPBank and CBBank’s outstanding loan balance for enterprises and individuals decreased dramatically. In addition, CBBank’s deposits even increased between the end of 2015 and November 2016 by nearly 14 per cent.
At the 2017 conference on implementing plans for Ocean Bank, Do Thanh Son, chairman of Ocean Bank, said that in 2015 and 2016 the bank continuously reported profit, which partially covered its losses accumulated in the past.
In 2017, Ocean Bank targets to receive more than VND30 trillion ($1.2 billion) in deposits and to report an outstanding loan balance of nearly VND18 trillion ($720 million).
