The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has asked commercial banks to submit reports detailing credit access for businesses.

SBV also requested information on the difficulties and outdated regulations businesses encounter when they apply for credit. It said commercial banks should include suggestions on how to improve credit access and business efficiency.

The SBV has announced credit-growth rates allocated to commercial banks.

Under Directive No 1, four credit institutes and bank groups have been allocated credit-growth rates from zero to 17 percent this year, based on the health of the organisation and their performance last year.

Those with well-performing lenders will be classed in groups A and B, and weaker lenders in groups C and D. Group A will receive the highest credit growth of 17 percent.

They include Vietnam Maritime Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Maritime Bank), Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank For Private Enterprises (VP-Bank), Vietnam International JS Commercial Bank (VIBank); and Southeast Asia Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Sea-Bank).
Commercial banks listed in Group B will receive a credit-growth quota of 15 percent. They include Nam A Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Nam A Bank); and Dai A Joint Stock Bank (DaiAbank).

After receiving the allocated credit-growth quotas, several banks developed specific lending plans for 2012. Maritime Bank, for example, developed a lending plan to control credit activities to ensure the growth rate not exceed 17 percent at any time this year.

VPBank said although it has been classified by SBV in group A with a credit-growth quota of 17 percent, its lending rate for non-production sectors has climbed to 16 percent. Thus, the bank does not plan to offer many personal loans.

NamABank will focus its loans on small and medium-sized enterprises, with a lending rate of no more than 10 billion VND.

An expert at the HCM City Banking University said the number of banks in weak groups C and D is considerable.-VNA