This article was published in 2014. Click here to see the The Banker’s Top 30 Asean Banks for 2023, and here for a report on the Vietnamese economy.
Hanoi-based VietinBank is the largest bank in Vietnam by Tier 1 capital, with $2.3bn of core capital. This is significantly more than the Tier 1 reserves of the second largest bank in the country, Vietcombank, which has $1.6bn of core capital.
Both banks have benefited from foreign investment in recent years. Japan-based Mizuho Corporate Bank bought a 15% stake in Vietcombank in 2011 and, a year later, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ purchased a 19.73% stake in VietinBank. These investments have provided the banks with more than just capital; the Japanese banks have brought invaluable experience to the table, helping the banks develop stratgies to stabilise their performance and reduce their high levels of non-performing loans. For more on the Vietnamese banking sector, see Peter Janssen's article, Vietnam looks to state bank overhaul to stem NPL problem.
