Specific plans for restructuring each unhealthy bank are now available, said Governor Nguyen Van Binh of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in a document replying to the questions raised by a National Assembly (NA) deputy.

Governor Binh said the central bank has formed monitoring groups at weak commercial banks to supervise these credit institutions, support liquidity and ensure solvency of such banks.

“SBV has launched full inspection and selected international auditors to conduct financial audits, evaluate assets, bad debts and equity of each bank, and instruct the banks to make restructuring schemes on their own to report to the Government for permission to carry out,” said the central bank’s reply to the questions of NA deputy Nguyen Thuy Trang of HCMC.

The document remarked these banks are disbursing deposits normally and depositors do not rush to withdraw their money.

In the second half of 2012, SBV will aggressively deploy financial-banking restructuring in accordance with the plan approved by the Government. The central bank is ready to intervene in the process by asking healthy credit institutions to take over stakes in weak banks.

The governor stated: “Shareholders of joint stock banks must sufficiently make up for any capital and financial loss arising and comply with the regulations for security of banking activities. Or else, SBV will firmly deal with violations under prevalent laws.”

He said the central bank would focus on settling bad debts from now to the year-end. In addition, SBV will continue to strictly supervise the incompetent banks and take measures to ensure their solvency.

Inspection and auditing are aimed to assess the financial status of each bank to draw up restructuring plans. Banking restructuring heavily depends on the competence of partners and the will of relevant entities, thus it will take times to reach the final agreement.

“Restructuring unhealthy banks will take much time. It is related to the interests of multiple parties while the Government’s resources are limited. The legal foundation has yet to be adjusted to comprehend the diversity and the complexity during the process of restructuring these banks,” said Governor Binh.

Credit will grow

In a document replying to the questions posed by deputy Ha Sy Dong of Quang Tri, the governor said outstanding loans tend to pick up slightly. Several credit institutions have recorded positive credit growths, with some already meeting their targets for the year and in need of credit expansion in the coming time.

Overall, in the first five months of 2012, the outstanding loans of the banking system did not increase compared to last year’s end. However, Binh believed credit growth would reach a reasonable level by the year’s end, matching the macro-economic changes.

The amount of capital disbursed under the current preferential programs for four prioritized groups is still limited. In explanation, SBV said some enterprises could not satisfy the requirements for borrowing loans, while those qualified do not have demand for loans because of their high inventories.

Another reason is “repayment ability of businesses and households is declining, posing higher credit risks, thus credit institutions are more cautious with giving out loans.”

Source: SGT