Institutional shareholders holding over 10% stake in seven Vietnam banks

Vietnam has seven banks with institutional shareholders holding more than 10% of charter capital, according to banks’ 2022 and H1/2023 governance reports.

The first name to mention is ABBank, registered on the Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM) as ABB, with multi-sector corporation Geleximco holding a 12.78% stake. The bank also has two foreign shareholders: Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), owning 16.39%, and International Finance Company (IFC) 8.2%.

HDBank, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as HDB, has Sovico Group JSC owning 14.356%; while military run telecom group Viettel holds a 14.1% stake in MBBank (HoSE: MBB).

PGBank (UPCOM: PGB) has the biggest number of institutional shareholders with an over 10% stake, with Gia Linh Trading Development and Import-Export Company Limited (13.099%), Cuong Phat International Joint Stock Company (13.541%), and Vu Anh Duc Trading Joint Stock Company (13.359%). These legal entities all participated in the auction of PGBank shares by gasoline retailer Petrolimex.

The Saigon Bank for Industry and Trade Joint Stock Bank (UPCOM: SGB) has three shareholders holding over 10% of charter capital. They are Saigon Petro with 14.081%, Ky Hoa Tourism and Trading Company Limited 16.352% and Phu Nhuan House 16.640%. Of which, Saigon Petro and Phu Nhuan House are wholly state-owned enterprises.

The list also includes giant Techcombank (HoSE: TCB) with the institutional shareholder holding over 10% of capital being Masan Group (14.9%). Meanwhile, VietABank (UPCOM: VAB) has Viet Phuong Investment Group JSC holding 12.21%.

Notably, many banks reported that they do not have major shareholders such as Bac A Bank, Viet Capital Bank, Eximbank, KienlongBank, National Citizen Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NCB), and VietBank.

The National Assembly, Vietnam’s highest legislative body, passed the amended Law on Credit Institutions Thursday with 91.28% of votes in favor.

The law, with 15 chapters and 210 articles, was approved at the closing session of the National Assembly's fifth extraordinary meeting. The law, taking effect from July 1 this year, is expected to have direct positive impacts on the macro economy as well as monetary and fiscal policies. One of the new law’s notable contents is that the maximum ownership ratio of an institutional shareholder in a bank has reduced from 15% to 10%.