Fri. PM KTFA News Articles #2 5-31-19

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Samson » May 31st, 2019

Việt Nam willing to work with the US on currency issues: SBV


31st May, 2019

The State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV), in conjunction with other Vietnamese ministries and agencies, will continue to share information with the US Treasury Department and co-operate to tackle issues of concern.

The SBV released the statement on Wednesday after the US Treasury on Tuesday added Việt Nam to its currency manipulation watchlist.

The Vietnamese central bank said it would continue to regulate monetary policy to control inflation, stabilise the macro-economy and support economic growth at a reasonable level.

“We will continue to regulate the exchange rates flexibly in line with domestic and international market movements as well as Việt Nam’s economic characteristics, with no aim of creating an unfair international trade competitive advantage,” the SBV said in the statement.

According to the SBV, Việt Nam was added to the list in the US Treasury Department’s May report because the country met two of three criteria that the US uses to label a country as a currency manipulator: a current account surplus with the US equivalent of 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and a trade surplus of at least US$20 billion.

Việt Nam has a trade surplus with the US that has risen over the past decade to reach $40 billion in 2018, while the country’s current account balance with the US has also been rising over the past decade, reaching a surplus of more than 5 per cent of the GDP in the four quarters through June 2018, according to the US Treasury’s report.

With Việt Nam on the list, the Treasury Department will keep watch over the nation's trade, current account and macro-economic and monetary policies. It may continue to exchange information and work with relevant Vietnamese agencies if necessary.

The US Treasury issues a report twice annually on foreign currencies. In the May report, the number of countries under scrutiny for possible manipulation rose to 21 from 12 after the Treasury altered one of the three criteria.

Previously, one of Treasury’s triggers to examine currency manipulation was a current account surplus – the difference between the amount a country exports and imports – of 3 per cent of gross domestic product. For the current report, it lowered the threshold to 2 per cent.

Although the Trump administration did not label any country a currency manipulator seeking to gain unfair trade advantages over the US in the May report, it did name a watchlist of nine countries: China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia and Việt Nam. LINK

First chip bank cards in Việt Nam launched

31st May, 2019

The Việt Nam Bank Card Association, in collaboration with the National Payment Corporation of Việt Nam (NAPAS) and seven commercial banks, launched the first ATM domestic chip cards to meet EMV standards on Tuesday.

The seven banks are Vietcombank, Vietinbank, BIDV, Agribank, Sacombank, TPBank and ABBank. The banks have a large number of bank cards, accounting for 70 per cent of the country’s total ATM cards nationwide.

Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Việt Nam Nguyễn Kim Anh said the switch from magnetic strip cards to chip cards is one of the key solutions to promote non-cash payments. She noted that this was a trend in the region and the world in the context of the increasing number of hi-tech crimes.

Việt Nam currently has about 76 million cards issued by 48 banks. The chip cards help reduce risks of card-related crimes and enhance payment safety for customers.

The SBV plans to have at least 30 per cent of active chip cards in the country by the end of 2020. The number will rise to 60 per cent by the end of 2021, and 100 per cent by the end of 2022. Nguyễn Quang Minh, NAPAS’s deputy general director, said that the chip card was built under special standards for Việt Nam’s market, but follows international standards.

In addition, customers can use both magnetic strip cards and chip cards as the commercial banks upgrade the ATM system to accept the two cards. ATMs and Points of Sale (POS) in the country are ready for the change and it will only take three months to implement the replacement of the bank cards, he said. Specialists said that the so-called smart cards contain an electronic chip on the surface with a miniature processor like an independent computer.

The outstanding advantage of chip cards is that the transactions are very fast. With small value transactions, there is no need to enter PIN or signature. This type of card is much safer than the current cards. “The application of chip card technology standards can limit the copying of information by installing theft-reading devices at ATMs, which will prevent money stealing at ATMs. Statistics show that counterfeit transaction rates fall suddenly when converting from magnetic cards to chip cards." However, customers are concerned that they may have to pay fees for the replacement.

Calculations show that costs to make a chip card are US$2-3 each, which is seven to eight times higher than the current card. It is estimated that banks need to invest over VNĐ1 trillion for the replacement, not to mention the expenditures on ATMs and POS upgrading.

Some banks said they could replace chip cards for free for customers despite the big costs, while others said they would have a fee for some customers based on their financial relations, but it wouldn't be applied to everyone. Đào Minh Tuấn, chairman of Việt Nam Bank Card Association, said the fee for replacement would vary among banks. Banks should have a minimum fee for customers to ensure competition, he added. LINK

Vietnam : Banks rush to issue bonds for long-term capital hike

31st May, 2019

Local banks have continued issuing a large amount of bonds to raise capital to meet State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV)’s stricter regulations on credit safety limits and capital adequacy.

Last week alone saw the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and VietinBank announce bond issue plans worth up to VNĐ15.5 trillion (US$665 million).

ACB’s board of directors approved a plan to issue two-year and three-year bonds worth VNĐ5.5 trillion, with a maximum interest rate of 6.75 per cent. ACB said the money raised from this issuance would be used to increase the bank’s working capital to satisfy rising credit demand. In April, ACB also approved the first private placement in 2019 with total face value of VNĐ2.5 trillion.

According to the audited financial statement, by the end of March, the bond value issued by ACB was more than VNĐ7.96 trillion. Meanwhile, VietinBank last week also received the SBV’s approval to issue VNĐ10 trillion worth of bonds.

Over the past year, VietinBank has issued bonds to maintain and raise its capital adequacy ratio (CAR), which is currently at the minimum level prescribed by law.

The bank raised VNĐ450 billion last year through bonds. By the end of the first quarter, VietinBank's valuable papers totalled VNĐ46.2 trillion, equivalent to the beginning of the year, of which VNĐ32.2 trillion was in bonds. Earlier, HDBank became the first bank in the country this year to raise VNĐ2.5 trillion from two-year and three-year bonds at interest rates of 6.3-7 per cent.

According to banking expert Nguyễn Trí Hiếu, banks prefer to issue bonds to raise long-term capital to satisfy the SBV’s regulation on reducing short-term funds earmarked for long-term loans from 45 per cent to 40 per cent. Banks also issue bonds to meet capital adequacy ratio (CAR) requirements under the Basel II standards that the SBV wants them to be operating by next year, he said.

For State-owned banks like Vietcombank, VietinBank and BIDV, increasing capital is one of their most urgent tasks at the moment, because if they cannot do so before 2020, their CAR will fall below the minimum level of 8 per cent stipulated by the Basel II norms – a set of banking laws and regulations to enhance competition and transparency in the banking system and make banks more resistant to market changes.

However, raising capital has not been easy as the banks are struggling to find foreign investors while they are not allowed to hold on to dividends to increase capital, so banks have decided to issue bonds. Experts also forecast the capital mobilisation channel via bond issuance will continue growing in popularity. LINK

The impact of credit policies on Việt Nam’s banking outlook

30th May, 2019 Jonathan Cornish

The Vietnamese central bank has a number of policies, including tightening credit growth, designed to improve the health of the country’s banking system.

Jonathan Cornish, Head of Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions at Fitch Ratings, talks with Việt Nam News reporter Nguyễn Thu Hà about the policies and outlook of the country’s banking system in 2019 and in the next few years

The State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) set a credit growth target of 14 per cent for credit institutions in 2019, much lower than the 18 per cent average rate of the previous years. In the context that many central banks in the region are loosening their monetary policy to support economic growth amidst the global slowdown, what do you think of the move?

We would view a moderation in loan growth, if sustained, positively, especially in the context that system leverage – as indicated by total bank credit/GDP of 134 per cent at the end of 2018 – is already very high, and significantly higher than the medium for ‘BB’ rated jurisdictions (around 60 per cent).

It is not unusual among emerging markets for system credit growth to taper off after years of rapid expansion, and it could be positive for the system if the economy can continue to grow at a relatively high pace while reducing its reliance on credit – especially from the banking sector – to support that growth.

Governments and regulators are likely to set policy to meet their own agendas, including supporting economic growth. However, the outlook for economic growth in Việt Nam remains positive.

What about other policies that the SBV is taking to improve the country’s banking system?

Accelerating non-performing loan (NPL) resolution (in Việt Nam’s case, with reference to Resolution 42) is generally positive for banking systems, but it is not uncommon in emerging markets for this process to be slow. Việt Nam has experienced implementation challenges, with the SBV admitting that the lack of a specialised debt trading market hinders bad debt resolution. That said, Resolution 42 is intended to address that, while it should also further discourage borrowers from defaulting on their loans, since it empowers banks to seize their collateral.

The adoption of Basel II standards would be positive if banks pay greater focus on the risk profile of their exposures and better price risk. Under Basel II, the definition of risk-weighted assets is expanded by incorporating additional capital charges for operational and market risks, while adopting a more granular and stringent approach to credit risk. However, Basel II adoption will increase pressure on banks to raise more capital, which could hinder their ability to maintain current growth rates.

In our report, “Measuring potential capital shortfalls of Vietnam banks” dated September 12, 2018, we highlighted that banks would require substantial capital infusions to meet Basel II implementation. That said, Việt Nam continues to lag the global banking capital standards, which have already moved into Basel III or beyond.

What should Vietnamese banks and the Government do to meet capital requirements under Basel II?

Our September 2018 report highlighted that, for the banks to meet higher regulatory standards, they would need to raise significant amounts of capital, which Fitch estimates to be in the order of US$4.1 billion to $6.5 billion.

The lack of development in Việt Nam’s domestic capital market and foreign-ownership caps (30 per cent) have hindered the pace of strengthening bank balance sheets. Foreign banks’ interest in Việt Nam is evident from the existence of branches. While foreign investors may be attracted to Việt Nam’s growth prospects, we believe they would also focus on the intrinsic health of the local banks, including asset quality.

What is your assessment about the status of Vietnamese banks?

The performance of Việt Nam’s banking system has been aided by strong and stable economic growth over the last few years. Better profitability has enabled some Fitch-rated banks to fully write-off their Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) bonds. Nevertheless, we believe system legacy NPLs to be under-reported, with asset quality potentially masked by high credit growth.

Rapid growth in the past likely contributed to asset quality stress. The persistently strong credit growth, including in newer areas of retail lending, could present new asset quality issues in the event of slower economic growth.

Any deterioration could be exacerbated by the system’s relatively thin loss-absorption buffers, including low capitalisation and profitability, albeit we expect the latter to continue to improve in 2019. The banks need to raise additional capital to meet higher regulatory thresholds, which will add to funding costs. In the meantime, the banks’ stable funding and liquidity profiles remain stable thanks to the macroeconomic environment.

What is the outlook of Việt Nam’s banking system in 2019 and in the next few years?

We expect Việt Nam’s strong economic growth to be sustained in 2019-2020. We see the banks maintaining their momentum in terms of profitability in 2019, aided in part by low credit costs and rapid growth in the higher-yielding retail loans. However, the latter could give rise to future asset quality problems in the event of a slowdown in the economy. In that regard, the US-China trade war poses uncertainties in terms of global and regional growth prospects.

What measures should be taken to ensure the banking system's success in 2019 and in the coming years?

Fitch does not provide advice or recommendations when it comes to matters such as reforms. However, the lack of depth in local capital markets has increased concentration of credit and risk on the banking system, which has weighed on their credit profiles. Similarly, limits in terms of foreign ownership have not only hindered capital raising, but the development of the industry, including the strengthening of banks’ risk management and corporate governance frameworks.

These issues have potentially been exacerbated by the slow pace of industry consolidation to weed out the weakest banks.While there have been improvements in the regulatory regime, the overall framework lags global standards.

Source: Dinar Recaps
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