Top local banks see simultaneous changes in top positions
Tuesday, October 02, 2012, 12:30 GMT+7
While a Japanese national has been appointed the deputy head of Vietcombank, Sacombank and Eximbank have relieved the posts of their two deputy general directors so that they can move to work at their subsidiaries.
Yutaka Abe, a Japanese national, was appointed the deputy general director-cum-member of the board of directors of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, better known as Vietcombank, starting Sunday. (September 30).
Abe is the first foreign top senior official at Vietcombank.
The appointment is in line with the stock purchase contract agreement that took place on September 28 between the bank and the Japanese Mizuho Corporate Bank, said Vietcombank.
Accordingly, Abe will not hold the position longer than five years from the date of taking office, it added.
After the 5-year period, the two parties will consider possible reappointment based on the agreement between competent authorities of the two banks.
Meanwhile, at Sacombank, Vo Anh Nhue and Ho Doan Cuong were appointed deputy general directors on October 1, while Pham Nhat Vinh, the current deputy director, was dismissed and transferred to Sacombank Securities Co.
Before taking office, Nhue and Cuong held the position of managing directors of Sacombnak’s branches in the Mekong Delta and Southeast region, according to the Ho Chi Minh City-based financial institution.
At the same time, at Eximbank, Nguyen Duc Thanh was dismissed from the post of deputy general director and transferred to the position of vice chairman of the board-cum-general director of Eximbank Debt and Asset Management Co Ltd.
This is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank), which raised its charter capital to VND1.7 trillion last month with a VND1 trillion capital injection from the parent bank.
On September 19 Pham Trung Cang, former vice chairman of Eximbank, submitted his resignation for personal reasons, a move that has been approved by the board.
He was prosecuted by the central police agency for the charge of “deliberately violating state regulations causing serious consequences” nine days later, along with Tran Xuan Gia, former ACB chairman, and two other former deputy ACB chairmen.
Last Thursday, at an unusual shareholder meeting of Ban Viet Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VietCapital Bank), the bank’s board of directors approved the resignations of Nguyen Van Cuu and Tran Tuan Anh, two members of the board.
With the resignations, the board of VietCapital Bank now consists of six member led by Nguyen Thanh Phuong, chairman of the board of directors.
Mizuho is a strategic partner with a 15 percent stake in Vietcombank. In September last year, Vietcombank signed a contract to sell the stake to Mizuho Bank to increase its capital to VND11.8 trillion, equivalent to $567.3 million at the time.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mizuho bought 347.6 million new, ordinary shares of Vietcombank, priced at VND34,000 per unit, and had the right to appoint a representative of the bank to hold a position on Vietcombank’s Board of Directors.
The reference price of Vietcombank’s stock, coded VCB on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, is currently at VND23,900 per share.
