Many Vietnamese banks are seeking support from foreign partners, including Japanese investors, in a bid to boost their capital.

According to the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper, Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock bank (Sacombank) planned to sell 20 percent of its stakes to a foreign partner this year in order to increase charter capital.

According to its Chairman Pham Huu Phu, Japanese investors were among those being highly considered.
At a shareholders’ meeting of the Housing Development Bank (HD Bank) in April, the bank announced its plan to call for capital from strategic foreign partners.

It later cooperated with businesses from Japan and the UK and hired a consultancy company to seek more suitable partners.

Many Japanese investors have already poured money in buying stakes in Vietnamese banks.

At the end of 2012, Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) signed an agreement to sell a 20 percent stake, worth 822 million USD of its business to Japanese Bank Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

This marked the biggest M&A deal in the country’s financial industry. Recently Vietinbank increased room for foreign investors to 30 percent.

Previously Vietnam Export Import Bank (Eximbank) sold 20 percent of its stock to the Japanese Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.-VNA