High demand for bank shares

Shares of commercial banks are still attractive to investors, but ordinary investors are not these banks' main target.Though most commercial banks, with the exceptions of Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), have not yet listed shares on the stock markets, investors continue to favour banking shares due to the bank's consistent operational transparency and high annual dividends.

Southern Bank plans to raise its chartered capital to 1.4 trillion VND (87.4mio US$), while the current level stands at 600 billion VND (37.4mio US$). Likewise, Eximbank expects to increase its chartered capital from 815 billion VND (51mio US$) to 1.2 trillion VND (75mio US$).
Experts reckon that to some extent the banking sector has not been put under as much competitive pressure as other industries, thus bank shares are predicted to continue winning investors' favour.

While investors have great expectations for profits gained from bank shares, banks are largely concerned with attracting strategic investors and potential foreign partners with whom to work toward breakthroughs in technology, management and services.

To date, only four commercial banks have sold shares to foreign financial institutions: ACB, Sacombank, VPBank and Techcombank.

Source: VNA