Vietnam Gov’t to retain 65% stakes in State-owned banks through 2025

According the Decision, in the 2021 – 2025 period, the State will continue to hold at least 65% charter capital in state-owned enterprises operating in finance and banking sector, excluding insurance, securities, companies.

Under the Decision, it is likely that the State will continue to hold at least 65% of capital in state-owned commercial banks Agribank, BIDV, VietinBank, and Vietcombank through 2025. The decision is not different from the instruction of the Politburo in 2017.

The Prime Minister recently issued Decision No. 22/2021/QD-TTg on classifying State-owned enterprises and state-owned enterprises undergoing divestment in the 2021 – 2025 period.

Earlier, investors expected that in the 2021-2025 period, the State would reduce the State ownership in State-owned commercial banks to 51%.

State-owned commercial banks continue to play the role as key force in terms of scale, market share, and market regulation ability. The flagship banks lead in deploying and applying Basel II, improving and international integration.

Among the four state-owned banks, VietinBank is the bank with the actual State ownership rate at least 65%.

The official decision on the minimum ownership ratio in each state-owned commercial bank still has to wait for the Ministry of Planning and Investment to synthesize comments and submit to the competent authorities for approval.