Ho Chi Minh City Development Bank (HDBank) recently announced that it has got approval from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to acquire Societe General Viet Finance (SGVF).

The bank said that the wholly French owned company - one of the largest foreign owned consumer finance companies in Vietnam - will become a subsidiary.

It expects that being the first transaction of this kind in Vietnam , this will encourage other institutions to carry out further acquisitions, in line with the nation's restructuring plans for the banking system.

"The acquisition is in accordance with international trends and restructuring plans advocated by the Government and SBV," said the bank's Deputy General Director Le Thanh Trung.

The combination of a stably developing bank and a well invested international financial institution will help to bring customers convenient and safe products and services, he said.

The whole SGVF network, including employees, business partners and customers, will also be kept intact after the acquisition, he added.

SGVF, owned by France 's Sociate General Co, was first licenced by SBV in 2007 to operate in Vietnam . It is present in 42 provinces with roughly 1,100 employees and provides services to more than 125,000 individual customers, through 300 partners, across the country.-VNA