Having been in operation for ten years, the South Asia Commercial Joint stock Bank, with its headquarters at 97Bis, Ham Nghi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, and branches in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and central provinces and cities, has gradually found its foothold in the Vietnamese commercial bank system.
The bank’s sustainable development was marked by the fact the it was chosen by the World Bank as one of the four commercial banks (via the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam) to join the second phase of the World Bank-sponsored rural financial project in 2002. The quality of its services can be seen via optimistic indexes as follows: In the first nine months of 2005, the bank’s total assets increased by 35 per cent, its called capital rose by 37 per cent, its total loans saw an increase of 45 per cent against early this year; its pre-tax profits were up by 23 per cent against that of the same period of 2004. Its required reserves were always at over eight per cent as stipulated by the State Bank of Vietnam.
As its affiliates concentrated in major cities, which have a high economic growth rate and huge demand for financial and banking services, the bank has made great efforts to develop a system of various products and services to bring convenience to its customers. Accordingly, the bank has offered attractive flexible interest rates and diversified products and services to meet all the demand of economic organisations and individuals. In the coming time, the bank will provide modern technology-based services and products, including Internet banking, phone banking, SMS banking, home banking, domestic and international ATM services, in order to provide more options for its customers.
One of the factors deciding the bank’s success is that the bank has young qualified staff members. Also, the bank has paid careful attention to attracting talent, helping its staff members develop their skills and improve their standard of living.
Hoang Van Toan, general director of the bank, said that the financial and banking sector was very dynamic and fast-developing but there was much potential yet to be tapped fully. He went on to say that many economic sectors were striving to exploit their potential with various business activities, so competition would become fiercer, in particular during the international integration process. Therefore, the Vietnamese banking sector, and the South Asia Commercial Joint stock Bank in particular, should exert further efforts along with support from the Government. Toan said that the State Bank of Vietnam should develop concrete programmes to support the development of banking technology and training for local banks, so they can stand firm before fiercer competition imposed by the international integration process.
Anh Dao
Vietnamese
