The President’s Office Wednesday denied having involved in rating Vietnamese banks, saying the results of the annual report on Credit Rating of Vietnam Index 2012 do not reflect the opinions of the President’s Office nor of any other state watchdogs.

Bui Truong Giang, spokesman of the President’s Office told Tuoi Tre that the rating was just for reference purposes only and carried out by CRV company and a team of economic experts.

“All of the contents as well as assessments, comments and conclusion of this report are not the viewpoints of the President’s Office and we know, are not the official viewpoints of concerned state watchdogs”, Giang explained.

Giang told Tuoi Tre that if any official from the President’s Office was found to have profited from this report, he/she will be strictly punished in accordance with the law.

On September 8, a meeting was held at the President’s Office to announce the annual report on Credit Rating of Vietnam Index 2012 (CRV Index 2012) in which 32 domestic commercial banks were rated on competitiveness levels. This banks’ rating is the first of its kind in Vietnam.

According to this report, 9 banks were rated in group A (high competitiveness, effective performance): Techcombank, Vietcombank, VietinBank, ACB, BIDV, DongA Bank, Eximbank, MB and Sacombank. 

Earlier, many banks opposed to this rating, saying CRV did not source data from state management agencies and that CRV did not inform them about the rating in advance. Sources from the State Bank of Vietnam also confirm that CRV did not collect data from concerned watchdogs.

In response, the rating board has apologized, admitting that “the research has some imperfect points and do not fully reflect the competitiveness of the rated banks”.