In the beginning there was just one bank in communist Vietnam, and that bank was the central bank, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). Now there are about 40 state-owned, partly state-owned and private banks. The country’s banking sector is undergoing a major restructure with improved governance standards. The issue of high non-performing loans (NPLs) is being tackled and there has been an influx of foreign investment.
The first big initiative in Vietnam’s banking sector came in 1988 when the SBV hived off four former divisions, turning them into AgriBank (for agriculture), VietinBank (for industry), VietcomBank (for trade) and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, or BIDV (for infrastructure), similar to China's model of state banking.