The sector is preparing for the next phase of drastic
changes, the central bank's governor has said.
Vietnam
will continue to push for legal reforms, improve its business environment and restructure the banking system, an official said
Friday, calling for the participation of foreign investors in the process.
“In
the coming period of drastic changes, I would like to invite foreign investors
to participate more actively in the restructuring of local banks,” the central
bank's governor Le Minh Hung was quoted by local media as saying at an Asian
Bankers Association conference in the northern province of Quang Ninh.
Hung
said Vietnam's banking system has recently
completed a five-year restructuring program and is planning for another phase
of overhaul.
At
the event, Daniel Wu, the association's chairman, said that many global
investors would want to be involved in Vietnam’s
bankingsystem.
Vietnam
now has seven wholly-owned foreign banks, as well as 50 branches and more than
50 representative offices of foreign
banks and joint-venture banks. Their total assets have topped $35.8 billion.
In
the first nine months, loans in the whole banking system expanded 10.64
percent, according to the central bank.
