Moon on january 31 2018

Some banks used to be very popular, with hundreds of thousands of customers, but they gradually disappeared from the market because of many reasons. Nam Do Commercial Joint Stock Bank Nam Do was a bank based in Ho Chi Minh City, which operated strongly in the mid-90s of the last century. However, under impacts of the Asian financial crisis in 1998, this bank could not recover debts. In 1998, after a series of violations in credit activities, Nam Do Commercial Joint Stock Bank was insolvent and was placed under special control by the State Bank of Vietnam. To ensure the safety of the banking system as well as stabilize the socio-economic situation in Ho Chi Minh City, the Prime Minister and the State Bank of Vietnam assigned the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to participate in controlling Nam Do Bank. BIDV established a special working group to assess the entire situation of Nam Do Bank and propose solutions. Photo: Vietnamnet … [Read more...] about Vietnamese banks that ‘disappear’ from the market

Kim was shown in state media images surrounded by uniformed generals inspecting a row of compact green warheads identified as the "Hwasan-31", which means volcano in Korean. The North has long sought the technology to "miniaturise" a nuclear warhead allowing it to be mounted on its intercontinental ballistic missiles to threaten the United States. Diagrams on the walls in the photos indicate this could be possible with the Hwasan-31. Kim was briefed by officials from the North Korean nuclear weapons institute, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He called on them to expand "the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials" for an "exponential" increase in the North's arsenal. Kim also "put spurs to continuing to produce powerful nuclear weapons" that he said would strike fear into the North's enemies, KCNA said. Experts warned the unveiling of a potential tactical nuclear weapon did indeed show key signs of technical progress, and could indicate an imminent … [Read more...] about Kim calls for ramping up N.Korea’s ‘weapon-grade nuclear material’

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in the year’s first quarter edged up around 4.3% year-on-year, showed official data. Shoppers at a local supermarket – Photo: Dantri The Ministry of Finance attributed the CPI rise to a 7.2% increase in housing and construction material prices and a pickup of 4.5% in food prices. The increasing housing and construction material prices resulted from higher rent and input costs such as cement, steel and sand, which contributed 1.4% to the overall growth. Meanwhile, the strong food demand during the Lunar New Year holiday in January sent food prices up, thus pushing up the CPI by 1%. Education services edged up 11% as tuition fee support in some parts of the country had ended, resulting in an increase of 0.6% in the CPI. The ministry has worked out three inflation scenarios for the second quarter and the rest of the year, with an average CPI growth ranging from 3.9% to 4.8% this year. … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s CPI inches up in Q1

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has signed a dispatch on the cancellation of World Bank (WB) loans due to the unusability, and the re-allocation and use of the cancelled International Development Association (IDA) loans in the 2022 - 2023 fiscal year. The dispatch noted the WB’s IDA loans, with preferential borrowing conditions and interest rates, for programmes and projects of ministries, agencies, and localities form an important source of public investment that helps promote economic growth. However, some IDA loan agreements have had to be cancelled as projects encounter difficulties or are unable to disburse all the capital. It cited the WB as saying that the IDA capital committed for Vietnam that is no longer needed and will be cancelled in the 2022 - 2023 fiscal year is about 296 million USD, some 85.14 million USD of which has had cancellation procedures implemented. Another 59.81 million USD has been sent … [Read more...] about Deputy PM urges hastened procedures for cancelled IDA loans

VPBank provides QR codes for its services. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - For Vietnam to fully tap into the digital future, experts say institutions and policies must be reformed to reflect Government commitments. Phung Anh Tuan, executive vice chairman and secretary general at Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI), passed the remarks at the Fintech Revolution Summit in Hanoi on March 27. The two-day summit is attended by BFSI experts, fintech leaders, ministry and central bank authorities, investors and corporates across Vietnam. The Vietnamese Government is advocating the development of a digital economy and promoting industrial revolution 4.0, said Tuan. Many directives have been on promoting non-cash and electronic payments, including Resolution 02, dated January 1, 2019, and Decision 1813, dated October 28, 2021. The policy and law-making process should reflect the Government's commitments, noted Tuan. The VAFI representative expects some … [Read more...] about Experts call for institutional, policy reforms to unlock Vietnam’s digital future

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is expected to raise its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.75%. (Photo:bangkokpost.com) Bangkok (VNA) – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is expected to raise its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.75% to contain inflation amid the economic recovery while trying to ease baht volatility, according to economists. central bank 's move will attempt to control inflation, facilitating a smoother economic recovery via monetary policy normalisation. However, some research houses expected the central bank may weigh up managing foreign exchange rates with future rate hikes rather than inflation rate containment. policy rate four consecutive times, starting from August 2022, with an objective to curb higher inflation rates. Thailand's headline inflation, gauged by the consumer price index (CPI), was 3.79% year-on-year in February, decelerating for a second straight month and the lowest rate in 13 months. This followed 5.02% headline inflation … [Read more...] about Thailand’s central bank expected to raise policy rate

Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) on Monday announced that it has entered into an agreement with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) - a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) – to issue 15 percent of equity stake through a private placement, officially welcoming SMBC as a foreign strategic investor of the bank. The investment from SMBC will help the bank raise VND35.9 trillion, or approximately US$1.5 billion, of Tier 1 capital, increasing its owner equity to around VND140 trillion from VND103.5 trillion. This comes as part of the capital raising plan that VPBank has been implementing during 2022-23 in order to enhance its long-term financial strength and support the bank to reach ambitious growth strategy over the next five years. Following the latest SMBC’s strategic investment, VPBank will become Vietnam’s second largest bank in terms of owner equity, which allows it to serve a wide range of customer needs in various … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s VPBank announces agreement to issue 15% of its charter capital to Japan’s SMBC

A factory in Dong Nai Province's Giang Dien Industrial Zone. The province lured $500 million in foreign investment in the first three months, nearly tripling that in the same period last year. — VNA/VNS Photo Hong Dat Viet Nam attracted nearly US$5.45 billion worth of foreign investment in the first quarter of the year, down 39 per cent year-on-year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA). Of the three-month figure, over $3 billion came from 522 newly-licensed projects, up 62 per cent in a number of projects but down 6 per cent in the level of capital compared to the same period last year. Some $1.2 billion was added to 228 existing ones, representing a yearly hike of 3 per cent in a number of projects and a yearly decline of 70.3 per cent in the capital. However, foreign investors' capital contribution and share purchases rose 4 per cent year-on-year to $798 million, the FIA said. Along with the contraction in fresh capital, the disbursed capital also slightly … [Read more...] about Viet Nam’s foreign investment plunges 39 per cent in Q1