Posted at 2:20 a.m., Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Australia-based bank hopes to expand in Vietnam
By Beth Thomas and Darren Boey
Bloomberg News
Melbourne-based ANZ wants to increase branches from the two it has in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Steve Targett, head of ANZ's institutional banking, said in an interview in Hanoi yesterday. The lender is also prepared to boost its 10 percent stake in Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, he said.
HSBC Holdings Plc, the world's third-biggest bank by market value, said yesterday it plans to open five to 10 branches in Vietnam within four years, pending the introduction next month of rules allowing overseas banks to incorporate locally.
"There is a lot happening in terms of deregulation and privatization," Targett said on the sidelines of the Second Annual Vietnam Investment Forum. ANZ hopes to open "at least as many" branches as HSBC, and definitely double-digit, he said.
Foreign banks are trying to gain a foothold in a country where the government forecasts growth will exceed an annual 8.5 percent by the end of the decade. Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's largest, and Singapore's United Overseas Bank Ltd. announced plans this year to buy stakes in Vietnamese lenders.
Only about 6 percent of Vietnamese have bank accounts, and official banking deposits as a percentage of gross domestic product are slightly more than half the Asian average, Credit Suisse Group said in an October report. Vietnam's "hidden" domestic savings are an "untapped resource," the report said.
ANZ Bank bought its 10 percent stake in Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial, known as Sacombank, for $27 million in 2005. The purchase was the first investment by a foreign lender in a privately owned Vietnamese bank.
"We've got more capital ready to come in," Targett said. "We would take more of a stake in Sacombank. We've done all the right things to take advantage of any growth here. We're prepared to put money in this country more than the others."
There has been a surge of investor interest in Vietnam, which joined the World Trade Organization this year. The Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center's VN Index has climbed 49 percent this year to date.
ANZ's shares today rose 0.6 percent to A$29.02. The stock has gained 2.9 percent this year, compared with a 3.7 percent advance in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index.
