KEB Hana Bank signed a deal to acquire a 15 percent stake in Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the No. 1 lender in terms of assets in Vietnam and one of the four state-run commercial banks on July 22.
BIDV is a state-run commercial bank with its 95.3 percent stake held by the Vietnam's central bank (SBV), and is Vietnam's No. 1 lender by assets with securities, leasing, insurance companies and asset management companies, and one of the four largest commercial banks in Vietnam along with Vietcom Bank, Vietin Bank and Agri Bank.
In line with local financial authorities' policy to advance the financial system through attracting foreign capital, and BIDV's capital increase strategy to secure future growth engines, the bank has decided to eventually attract investment from KEB Hana Bank.
BIDV chose KEB Hana Bank, which has an unrivaled competitiveness in retail banking centered on PB, digital banking and risk management. BIDV, with more than 70 percent of its loans being corporate loans, sought an optimum partner to expand retail banking with high growth potential.
KEB Hana Bank has been showing business operations mostly centered on Korean companies through its two branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, but the deal will allow the bank to generate a variety of synergies by utilizing the BIDV’s vast network of operations, including some 1,000 branches and offices across Vietnam and ATMs amounting to 58,000 in the number.
"We plan to improve the BIDV's asset portfolio, which is currently biased toward corporate finance, to diversify profit sources such as increased commission income, while maximizing investment profits by transferring KEB Hana Bank's advanced risk management techniques," said an official at KEB Hana Bank.
