Sacombank shareholders reject board’s charter amendment proposal

The board of directors of Sacombank, a mid-sized private lender in Vietnam, sought to amend its charter, but the proposal failed due to insufficient shareholder approval.

Under the current charter, Sacombank's legal representative is the CEO. The board proposed a revision that would define "legal representative" as either CEO or, in the absence of a formally appointed CEO, chairman of the board.

As of the record date for shareholder consultation on August 18, Sacombank had 66,266 shareholders representing 1.89 billion shares, equivalent to charter capital of over VND18.85 trillion ($714.42 million).

The bank distributed 66,200 voting forms to shareholders' addresses, yet only 345 responses were returned, representing 489.9 million voting shares, or just 25.99% of total voting shares.

Of those responses, only 16.14% voted in favor of the board’s proposal, while 9.67% abstained. As a result, the proposal outlined in Document No. 51/2025/TT-HĐQT dated August 25 on amending the charter was not approved. The current charter, as adopted at the AGM on April 26, 2024, therefore remains in effect.

Shake-up in the CEO seat

The proposed change comes amid significant executive turnover at the bank. In May, Nguyen Duc Thach Diem, who had served as Sacombank’s CEO for nearly eight years, resigned, citing a desire to focus on her role as a board member to help steer the bank's post-restructuring strategy.

However, just one month later, she resigned from the board of directors. Her resignation will be presented for approval at the next AGM.

Meanwhile, the board appointed Nguyen Thanh Nhung as acting CEO and legal representative, replacing Diem.

Nhung holds dual bachelor's degrees in economics and law from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law and a master’s degree in banking and finance from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City.

He brings over 30 years of experience across critical banking functions such as accounting, legal affairs, credit, and treasury. His previous leadership roles include deputy CEO at Eximbank and CEO at Vietbank.

The leadership changes occurred as Sacombank celebrated the completion of its long-awaited restructuring process. The bank has aggressively tackled legacy debts and fulfilled all financial obligations under the restructuring plan.

In 2024 alone, it recovered and resolved nearly VND10 trillion ($379 million) in bad debts and distressed assets, bringing the total resolved to nearly VND104 trillion ($3.94 billion), including VND76.7 trillion under the government-approved plan. Non-performing loans and distressed assets have declined by 80.5%, reducing their share of total assets from 28.1% to just 2.4%.

Sacombank has also fully resolved VND21.58 trillion ($817.9 million) in accrued interest under the plan and made full provisioning for remaining unresolved bad debts. Retained earnings (post-2024 profit distribution) reached VND25.43 trillion, 1.35 times its charter capital.

Like many other banks, Sacombank is undergoing a major restructuring. In the first half of 2025 alone, the bank closed 11 transaction offices. As of June 30, 2025, the bank operated with one head office, 109 branches, and 426 transaction offices. Its workforce has also been trimmed by 1,228 employees, down to 16,860.

Sacombank aims to increase total assets by 10% to VND819.8 trillion ($31.5 billion) this year, while keeping its bad debt ratio below 2%. The bank targets a pre-tax profit of VND14.65 trillion ($563 million), up 15% from 2024.

In the first quarter of 2025, the bank posted a pre-tax profit of VND3.67 trillion ($141.2 million), up 38.4% year-on-year. However, its bad debt ratio rose by 0.2 percentage points to 2.2%, mainly due to the economic slowdown and the struggling real estate sector.

Sacombank is listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as STB, which closed Friday at VND55,400 ($2.1) per share.