The Vietnam Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) has opened one transaction office in Pakse town in the southern Lao province of Champasak.

The move is designed to boost long-term investment and operations in the country. 

At the March 29 opening ceremony, Chairman of Vietinbank Board of Directors Pham Huy Hung said his bank opened the first branch in Laos in 2012, noting that the branch’s income reached 3.46 million USD last year, including 800,000 USD in after-tax profits. 

Hung later asserted the office offers convenient and fast banking-finance services to local people and both Vietnamese and Lao business communities, contributing to further promoting trade and investment between the two countries. 

Vietinbank pledges to abide by Lao laws and the regulations set by its central bank, as well as further improve the quality and effectiveness of services and enhance transparency. Its aim, it says, is to develop into a large commercial bank for the country. 

Champasak province’s Party Secretary and Governor Sonsay Siphandone and Somphao Phaysith, Governor of the Lao central bank, highly praised Vietinbank’s decision to open the office in the province, a key strategic position connecting Laos with Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. 

They added the local authorities will create favourable conditions for the office to operate efficiently and raise Vietinbank’s position in Laos, in order to reinforce and further expand investment partnership between the two countries.-VNA