Illustrative image (Source: http://vietnamfinance.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has been granted a licence by the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) to open a branch in Yangon city.
The licence came after the preliminary approval was announced nearly four months ago.
The bank said its Yangon branch has an initial capital of 85 million USD. BIDV Yangon plans to have a minimum total asset of 300 million USD after three years of operation, and name itself on the top five foreign banks in Myanmar.
BIDV established its representative office in Myanmar in April 2010 as part of efforts to realise the Vietnam-Myanmar Joint Statement on cooperation in 12 prioritised areas, including finance and banking.
Since then, BIDV has been expanding its operations in Myanmar through its role as the chair of the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Myanmar (AVIM), the opening of representative office of BIDV Insurance Company and the establishment of BIDV Myanmar Finance Company.
The opening of BIDV Yangon marks the lender’s stronger participation in Myanmar’s financial and banking market and comes in line with its strategy of market diversification and promoting growth in key regional markets.
In the coming time, the bank will focus on providing modern banking products and services for Myanmar’s enterprises and foreign firms in the country, especially those from Vietnam and countries having close links with Myanmar such as Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China).
Over the past six years, BIDV has played a significant role in boosting Vietnam-Myanmar cooperation in investment, trade and tourism.
As the chair of AVIM, BIDV arranged a series of fact-finding tours for Vietnamese entrepreneurs to enquire about Myanmar’s market, and organised workshops and forums to promote links between the two sides’ enterprises.
It also worked with the Governments and relevant agencies of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to organise the forum “Four countries, one destination” to foster tourism and banking cooperation among the four countries.-VNA
